Also to jamiemj: Hey Guys, The "ongoing study of stints" seems to indicate that the aaa is in fact abdominal since stints are not used in ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms. But Alymat, there also is no bypass involved since the repair of the ascending aorta aneurysm is usually repaired with a dacron sleeve sewn in place of the removed aneurysm. But that's all for the doctors to decide. What we need to be concerned with (I'm 89) is how do we get the Hospitals to admit us when the time comes for the procedure. Two hospitals have now not accepted me even for a CT scan,, MRI or Ultrasound. After 18 months since discovery of the aneurysms (ATAA 4.2, Root 4.4) I have finally got a Cardiologist to accept me; only because he moved and is accepting new patients. Jamiemj, what you said is true. Most people (including my doc) said "Are you really 89" when they first meet me. However, no doctor does an aneurysm procedure in his office. The hospitals "RULE" and are protective of their reputation and do not need to add to their cadaver #'s which doesn't look good on their ads.
So, in my case, that seems to be hurdle #1. Bottom line? a major study of 6,000 ATAA patients showed that the overall risk of Aortic Dissection was low and aortic burst was even lower. See (JAMA Cardiology, Vol. 7, Nol11) The findings also found that patients with TAA: earlier preventative surgery should be done only selectively in the nonsyndromic population , given the nontrivial risks associated with aortic surgery.