Cannon Suffered Blood Clots in Lungs, Enlarged Heart
Nick Cannon stepped down from his radio show to focus on his health.
Feb. 17, 2012— -- Nick Cannon stepped down from his daily radio show today after revealing he suffered another health setback last week, when doctors discovered he had blood clots in his lungs and an enlarged heart.
"The doctors found blood clots in my lungs and said if I don't slow down and stop working so hard then it's a wrap!" Cannon, 31, tweeted.
The actor, radio host and husband to Mariah Carey was hospitalized in January with kidney failure, which Cannon said contributed to his latest health scare.
"[Blood clots], on top of my previous condition, actually made me more prone to this," Cannon said. "If it isn't one thing, it's another."
African-American men in Cannon's age group are 14 times more likely than Caucasian men to develop kidney failure because of high blood pressure. Although it is unclear what contributed to Cannon's kidney failure, doctors said it likely caused the chain of events that led to the health problems Cannon is now experiencing.
"He may have some primary form of kidney disease. Sometimes, those can increase the risk of having blood clot events due to the loss of protein in the kidneys," Dr. William Abraham, the director of cardiovascular medicine at Ohio State University, told ABCNews.com.
Abraham added that blood clots in the lungs can cause the right side of the heart to become enlarged.
"The other thing that is possible is he could have a systemic disorder, such as lupus," Abraham said.
Cannon has not shared details of his treatment or his prognosis. However, Abraham said he is optimistic the new father's condition is completely treatable.
"The good news is at this point I would presume everything is potentially reversible," he said.
Abraham said Cannon is likely on blood thinners to reduce the two blood clots in his lungs and may have to take them for as short as a month or as long as the rest of his life to prevent future clots.
Dr. Patrick McCarthy, director of Northwestern University's Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, told ABCNews.com that blood thinners will typically make a clot "go from the size of a golf ball and down to a marble before it, hopefully, disappears."
Although Cannon's condition is serious, the multitasking celebrity likely isn't bedridden and spending all of his time with doctors.
"He may be going in weekly or every couple of weeks," Abraham said. " And he is probably seeing a kidney specialist regularly."
Reducing his workload will allow Cannon to get more rest and hopefully improve his health.
"His doctor will probably come down hard on him because he dodged a bullet. He was lucky here," McCarthy said.
Cannon's representative declined ABCNews.com's request for an interview.