Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

I have a thoracic aneurysm measuring 4.5cm. My cardiologist said unless I have symptoms will recheck yearly. Usually don’t do surgery til 5cm

@annak1691 I think you are on the right track. You need more details. If this is an aortic aneurysm, 3 cm is really small and I suspect it will be watched with yearly echocardiograms to assure it is not growing larger at a fast rate of speed. If you so far have just seen your primary, you may wish to get established with a cardio. You can discuss this with your primary when you call her for more details. Try not to worry -- if the issue were critical, your MD would have sent you to the ER, not home for the weekend.

Thank you for your support

4.5 cm on the aortic artery is very small. Usually operate at over 5 mm. Celiac operatble is 1.5 mm. This is my understanding

This is just a question. my friend has an AAA and gets it checked often. She has decided not to have anything done. She is so afraid of having to have the open surgery and then she might not survive. She went thru a bout of septic shock and took months to recover and she doesn't want to go thru that again. I have told her to go to Mayo and I would go with her and get their opinion there...…..She said Dr. has told her there are risks either way. Any advice I can give her to help her make a decision...… Thanks.

@sakota I think there is risk with any surgery and in fact, with any hospitalization. However, that said, if/when my AAA reaches the size that my cardio suggests surgical repair, I will know it has reached the point where it has the potential to "blow" and that is likely to mean sudden death. Unless I am really, really old, I'm having the surgery. For the very elderly and infirm, there is a less invasive repair.

I think getting an opinion from a Mayo Cardio AAA specialist will at least give your friend all the information she needs to make an informed decision.

@degarden_girl Thanks for replying to my message. My friend is like 76. She watched her sister die from bleeding out in the er because they just didn’t do anything until it was too late. I hope she does go to mayo. And see what they say. Thanks again garden girl.

@sakota If your friend needs repair but is not ready for the open chest surgery, she should definitely talk to her cardio about the non-invasive insertion of the stent in the artery. I suspect that requires little down time. I wonder what size her AAA is and how fast it is growing. I'm 74 in January and I hope to die from some unrelated issue in about 20 years or more. Or, if the AAA blows, so be it. It would be a fast way to go and hopefully without nursing home residence in the mix.

@garden girl

I talked. To my friend yesterday. She had appointment with two drs yesterday and both said no to during surgery. First off she has the aneurism
And secondly she has a bulge on her stomach. Which is a ruptured hernia. Drs don’t. ReLly want to do either one one dr won’t do the aneurism as her veins are small. I told her to come to mayo and if they no then that’s it. I wAs wondering if she can have her records sent to mayo that a dr could look at. Her husband has just found out that his colon cancer may have returned. I appreciate your help vgarden. Thanks.

Forgot she said her aneurism is ether 5 something or 6 something