April 15, 2008 (Anchorage, Alaska) – Top US xc skier Kikkan Randall is back in the hospital after it was discovered that a second blood clot had formed in her leg. Yesterday, Randall met with a haematologist to further understand the results of blood tests taken three weeks ago in Fairbanks. One of those tests indicated that she had the genetic disorder known as Factor V Leiden Deficiency (FVL), which occurs in 5-8% of the Caucasian population.

The meeting was very positive as Randall learned that she would most likely only need to be on Coumadin (standard blood thinner) for about 6 months as opposed to the rest of her life, as is sometimes the case. Following the meeting it was decided to do a follow up ultrasound to make sure everything was okay and that’s when the second clot was discovered, which also explained why her recovery was taking so long.

Randall was re-admitted to the hospital at 11:30am this morning to undergo the same procedure as before (Lytic Therapy), whereby the doctors attach an instrument called an angio-jet to the clot via a catheter. She will also have the iliac vein ballooned again in a few places to further expand the vessel walls.

Assuming everything goes well Randall should be up and about in the next few days and much closer to normal status. While having to go through the clot procedure again appears to be a set back, in the long run this process should dramatically shorten her recovery time. If Randall was a normal person and not a world class skier, she would most likely not go through the procedure again and would continue with blood thinners until her body dissolved the clot.