Ascending Aortic Aneurism

Make sure you have a very good surgeon. Having gone through 4 major procedures during open heart surgery for 14 hrs this past Sep, I think you are making the correct decision if it is that size with moderate leaks. I ended up with the aortic root, valve and most of the ascending aorta replaced after having an right coronary artery resectioned due to an aneurysm, complex coronary fistula from the RCA and LAD to the pulmonary artery ligated and triple CABG. The root was 4.8 and ascending 4.7 and we thought it would be o.k., but the root ruptured and aorta split when they finished up with the 1st 3 things. It turns out the tissue was fragile and the aorta thin which doesn't show up on the CT nor angiogram catheter.

Being able to carefully plan a procedure as serious as this one by putting the best possible team of of doctors, surgeon, and plan of care into place is definitely advantageous if surgery is an inevitable. How long had you known about your aneurysm if you don't mind my asking? Did it reach 5.2 cm quickly? That would be another factor for me that would help me to lean more toward being even more proactive about not waiting until it reached 5.5 cm. In any case, I wish you well and hope that you will have a successful and uneventful procedure and can get through the recovery quickly and easily and put this issue in the rear view mirror.

Thanks for the replies
It was discovered about 4 years ago and was 4.6cm. So , in four years grown to 5.2 cm which is not too bad but with the leaking Aortic valve then I guess that changes things a little.

Hi,

Well, I didn't have a leaky valve but was diagnosed with an ascending aneurysm of 5.4cm when I was 65 (last year). I had elective surgery this past Feb and after a few months of recovery, am back to at least 90+% of my previous activity level. So, I'd recommend getting this done sooner rather than later with a doc that specializes in these kinds of surgeries. My recommendation is to get yourself in as good a shape as possible prior to surgery... it will aid in your recovery. If it helps, once I was home (a week after surgery), I was able to walk 10k steps daily but it was a struggle at first, but got progressively better.

Good luck!

Thats a great outcome! Happy for you. Where did you have the surgery?

Hi Vivian,

I had my surgery done at St. Anthony's Hospital in Denver. My surgeon was Dr. Patrick Rudersdorf and I would highly recommend him for this kind of aortic surgery as he has done lot's of them. Best of luck!

My aneryusm is 4.9 and I am 79 years old. Are the performing open heart or endovascular repair
Ann Marie

Did you have open hear surgery or was it endovascular
I am 79 yrs old and I just found out 8 months ago and it is 4.9

Where did you have the surgery Mine was 4.3 in 2022 and now is 4.9

To repair an ascending aortic aneurysm is open heart, there’s just not another way to properly get to that area. I had mine 5 years ago at 5.2 cm, they replaced that whole section of the aorta with a graft. My cardiologist told me in some cases many years after surgery some people may get a new dilation where the graft and the aorta were sawn together in that case TVAR may be used.

My surgeon and cardiologist were top notch, like others have said get the best team possible, mine is one of the best in Houston. I still see my cardiologist every year. He is an expert in aneurysms and aortic diseases, that makes a big difference.

5 years on , I’m doing great pretty much at 100%, active, exercising a lot and enjoying life with family.