It is great that you did a lot of research. It is always smart to be an informed patient. When I went through this 6 months ago I factored in a couple of other considerations. The first was continuing to live with the constant anxiety of knowing I had an aneurysm that could dissect or rupture even though the risk was small. The second was the future risk. I was 72 and my aneurysm was growing slowly. If it continued to grow at the same rate I probably wouldn’t be at 5.5 cm for another 5 years. At my age every year I waited to have surgery increased the chance of having some of the complications you mentioned. So considering everything I decided to have surgery. My surgery went well and I had no complications and I was out of the hospital in 5 days. It has been 4 months post surgery and I am about 95% recovered (my sternum aches if I do too much). Everyone has to do their own risk assessment and be comfortable with it. I wish everyone the best whatever they decide.