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Early surgery: Can I get aortic aneurysm repair before it's 5.0?
Aortic Aneurysms | Last Active: Mar 9 11:31am | Replies (91)Comment receiving replies
Peg, I have exactly the same diagnosis, 4.2 cm and no history to determine rate of growth. I see my cardiologist in April as well, not sure what I can do except maintain overall good health. To that end I think I should try hard to avoid stress and stick to moderate exercise. I turn 69 in May, and this has been surprising and sobering news.
Replies to "Peg, I have exactly the same diagnosis, 4.2 cm and no history to determine rate of..."
It is a shock to hear the diagnosis of aneurysm. When you stop and think about it, with an aneurysm of 4.2 cm, we've been living with this without knowing for who knows how long. My younger sister's PCP recommended she be worked up, because of my diagnosis. She just saw a Cardiologist, but still needs to get her Echo and CT angiogram. He said that 4.2 is a mild to moderate aneurysm. She lives in Lancaster, Pa and he is a PENN cardiologist. He also told her that they are working on surgical advancements every day and that they had just recently performed an endovascular repair of a TAA in Philadelphia.
I'll be 71 this year. I'm hoping that it will grow slowly and I never have to have surgery. Maybe we'll find out in April that our aneurysms have remained at 4.2. I wish you the best!!
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When/if to have surgery is the most concerning thing for me with this diagnosis. Mine is around 4.5cm and the diagnosis was two years ago. The growth so far, if any, is in the margin of error. So I've had measurements of 4.3, 4.5 and 4.7. Hopefully it won't grow, but I can't help thinking about what I'll do if it does. I'm 64.
I had Polymyalgia Rheumatica right before my diagnosis. (The testing to figure out what was going on lead to the diagnosis. 600 CAC and a 4.5 cm aneurysm. Life turning point.) I was pretty fit at the time, running 15-20 miles a week, but was sidelined for a few months. I've not been able to recover my fitness level in the two years since. Maybe it's just fear of over exerting, but I don't think so. I sometimes go harder than I think I really should. So the prospect of starting over mid-70s is scary.