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Ascending thoracic aneurysm: What should I do and not do?
Aortic Aneurysms | Last Active: Feb 24 7:14am | Replies (72)Comment receiving replies
New to forum. 71 y o male, 6'4' rated obese. Two weeks ago, my regular doc sent me for echogram which showed aortic root at 4.1 and ascending aorta at 4.7. Sent then to CT which showed ascending at 4.8. Have received a message from my reg. doc that at my next visit (next week) we are going to discuss my results. Have a feeling I'll be seeing a heart doc in the near future. lol. I have a few other health issues and this news of a heart situation was completely unexpected. Have not shown any symptoms of what I would probably imagine. I had been diagnosed with degenerative joint disease for a couple of decades now, and have had both knees totally replaced about 14 years ago. Been under care of a rheumatologist for about 7 years, and currently going for chemo infusions of Rituxan to slow the deterioration timeframe down. Rituxan is notorious for hurting the autoimmune system. I don't smoke or drink. Because of my arthritis situation, my exercise regimen is minimal. With all that info on me, can anyone offer me some advice? I'm a bit concerned about where this is all going to lead me. Thanks. tdan4
Replies to "New to forum. 71 y o male, 6'4' rated obese. Two weeks ago, my regular doc..."
I monitor mine annually. The last 2 years, when it was first found, it went from 4.0 to 4.2. I am on an annual scan schedule at this point. I have a local heart doctor monitor it and I also send my scans to a university hospital out of state where they have a specialist team that does the operations. This way I also have an established plan where to go to have the surgery if/when the time comes for it. My local heart doctor also told me to get hold of him fast if I have sudden and major chest pains because they aneurism might be tearing in which case he would send me to a hospital that is not as far because time is critical. As others have noted 5 cm seems to be the limit where surgery is considered.
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Hello @tdan4
I can chime in on what I learned after an unexpected diagnosis of a 4.3cm ascending aortic dilation. It showed up as 4.5 cm on a calcium CT and the measurement was refined during a ct coronary angiogram. (Other problems showed up on the calcium CT.)
The routine standard seems to be an operation at 5cm. Body size and growth rate appear to be factors that can change the size for surgery. There are probably other factors as well. I am not a doctor.
When it's less than 5cm, it's monitored according to a prescribed schedule. The first check is in 6 months and yearly afterward if the growth rate is below some threshold. The growth rate seems to vary substantially.
I learned a lot at this link: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001106 and from this group.
Hope this helps.