"Aneurysm Thoracic Aortic Without Rupture"?

UPDATE: I recently went to see a vascular physician at Mayo, and he showed me an echocardiogram that was done exactly one year ago at Mayo! If I had known that, I wouldn't have been complaining so much about lack of attention from a cardiologist.

I guess it's on patient info that Mayo has, but which are not all available on our personal patient portals.
He said that my aortic aneurysm looked okay, that there had been no recent enlargement of it, and that I should be checked again in one year.

So, that is nice to hear. But what I am trying to do is learn more about my situation, so that I don't have to rely on cardiologists to interpret my echocardiogram results. Just before seeing this vascular physician at Mayo, I had called the Olmsted Medical Center, which I've never been to, and they said that if I wanted to see a primary care physician there, then the OMC primary care physician would determine if I could have my heart "checked" over there.

I told them that sometime between now and this time next year I'll call them back if I need help.

I’m 56 and was diagnosed with a 4.5cm Ascending aortic aneurysm a year ago. I lost a neighbor suddenly due to aortic dissection, so I took it on myself to get a CT scan. No symptoms and without the blessing of my insurance co. The rest of my heart is in pretty good shape. Shortly after diagnosis, I retired and made significant changes to my diet and stopped lifting completely. It’s been a year and I went into my follow up CT Scan last week convinced the best result would have been an increase of 2 mm because I didn’t believe I’d done enough to improve my exercise or even my diet. My primary started me on 25 mg of Lasorton, but since my BP wasn’t averaging below 115/80, I pushed to get it increased to 50, then eventually 100mg. Surprisingly enough, my follow up scan showed NO change in size with my aneurysm! I was initially thrilled! Like you though, I wondered if my yearly scans would continue. Can you share your age and aneurysm size please?

I’m 56 and was diagnosed with a 4.5cm Ascending aortic aneurysm a year ago. I lost a neighbor suddenly due to aortic dissection, so I took it on myself to get a CT scan. No symptoms and without the blessing of my insurance co. The rest of my heart is in pretty good shape. Shortly after diagnosis, I retired and made significant changes to my diet and stopped lifting completely. It’s been a year and I went into my follow up CT Scan last week convinced the best result would have been an increase of 2 mm because I didn’t believe I’d done enough to improve my exercise or even my diet. My primary started me on 25 mg of Lasorton, but since my BP wasn’t averaging below 115/80, I pushed to get it increased to 50, then eventually 100mg. Surprisingly enough, my follow up scan showed NO change in size with my aneurysm! I was initially thrilled! Like you though, I wondered if my yearly scans would continue. Can you share your age and aneurysm size please?

You should push to have your yearly scans continued. These ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms tend to grow slowly but they DO grow; unless you die of something else, the probability is very high that you will need surgery in the future. Literature from the Cleveland Clinic indicate they grow about .07 cm a year but the range varies. It is not wise to discontinue scans.
That said, Losartan at 100 mg is good. We could not keep my husband's blood pressure under 120/80 when he was taking 50 mg twice a day plus a low dose beta blocker (25 mg). The 25 and 50 mg are short acting. The 100 mg will last 24 hours. I found this information in an article on PUBMED. When I mentioned this to my husband's primary care doctor, he looked at me with his eyes wide and said: "I never thought of that but, of course, the kinetics make sense."

Stopped lifting? Many athletes have a slightly larger number than the average couch Potatoe. I would watch the medication, many of the doctors over medicate. Make sure you know the lone term/short term side effects and their interactions with other medications of all the medication you take. I'm on my third cardiologist. Two of them overdosed me with a low-flow TIA. There are many natural supplements that will help with BP. The FDA just approved magnesium for hypertension.

No heavy lifting where there is straining. That's pretty standard recommendation for anyone with an aortic aneurysm. Low weight (below 30-50 lb depending on the Dr.) high rep is ok as long as you stop before straining for the last few reps. It also means no more hoisting my suitcase in the airplane overhead bin or pack-muling 70 lb of groceries up a flight of stairs. All that has been probably the most difficult adjustment for me.

I'm on a low dose beta-blocker and the pill is split into 1/2 in the am, half in the pm so that my heart rate and BP never get too low. My Dr. Says the risk for low flow TIA due to a sudden drop in BP is very unlikely with this dose and method.

Stopped lifting? Many athletes have a slightly larger number than the average couch Potatoe. I would watch the medication, many of the doctors over medicate. Make sure you know the lone term/short term side effects and their interactions with other medications of all the medication you take. I'm on my third cardiologist. Two of them overdosed me with a low-flow TIA. There are many natural supplements that will help with BP. The FDA just approved magnesium for hypertension.

They had me on beta blocks for 6.5 years. First 3 mos. Metoprolol, after operation had bad side effects. Cardiologist ignored them. My HR before medication has always around 54. The beta blocker dropped it even lower. At 3 mos. had a low-flow TIA, cardiologist didn't even have the guts to show up. Surgeon took charge, ran test for three days then let me go home without prognosis. While in the hospital the internal medicine doctor overdosed me with medication. Her response was "That's why we like to do things in a controlled environment (^%$#@!). Second cardiologist overdosed me on Atenolol. 90s/40.s, HT 41, doctor ignored numbers even after years of complaint and documentation. Comment "We don't have time for that here, we're in a production mode." (^%$#@!) Wanted to try a pacemaker &^%$#@!. Got rid of him after second low-flow TIA. Next doctor took me off beta blocker immediately. Had to change hospitals. I can go on for pages. BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE AND DO SOME RESEARCH> The internet saved my butt.