Aortic Aneurysms – Introduce yourself & meet others

Hi there. Did you end up having open chest repair? How did it go? My father is 88 and UCSF is discouraging my dad from open chest repair after endovascular repair was unsuccessful due to his age. Any words of wisdom to share?

Hi. 65 yr old male with 3.2 AA (no dissection), more than 80% stenosis from mural thrombus at the infrarenal aorta. Severe stenosis at the bifurcation. I was prescribed Eliquis at $530/month - my cost because I am on Medicare. Any ideas on how to reduce my out-of-pocket cost? Also, I have an appointment with a vascular doctor in two weeks for a plan of action. Seems I have three problems and it looks like the AA may be the least urgent. Does anyone have any idea how they may treat this?

Thank you.
Scott

Just as @23997929 said, find the best thoracic surgeon you can find and I would add a cardiologist who is an expert in aneurysms (it's not every cardiologist), in general as far as I know there are no alternatives for ascending aneurysms but open heart surgery, I had mine taken care of 5 years ago. How easy it is depends a lot on the person's general physical condition/fitness, other ilnesses, smoker or not, etc. Mine was fairly "easy", recovery was relatively fast (5 days in the hospital, returned to work after 3 weeks), but everyone is different. A good cardiologist and surgeon would be able to properly assess you and give you the proper advice, they take multiple factors into account to decide when surgery is recommended, size and shape of the anurysm, body size, family history, etc

Depends where you live but find a thoracic surgery expert who does the surgery a lot, has a good record, and ask for their advice and action plan for your case. Preferably one at a large reputable hospital. My specialist told me that surgery is recommended when reaching 5.0 cm or higher but how fast the dilation increases might play into it.

@ Moonboy. Great to meet you! You’re incredibly fortunate to have survived the dissection. I consider myself lucky too—when my brother was diagnosed with an aneurysm due to a different condition, it really caught my attention. I had read about the genetic factors behind aneurysms, so I asked my doctor to check my ascending aorta as a precaution.

Hello,
I am Aric7 and I have a ascending aneurysm at 4.7 cm and a AAA at 3.5.
I am 75 to and am exploring getting the Ascending aneurysm taken care of.
I am looking to find out about costs, recovery time and procedures available.
If any of you have any experience in these three factors I'd like to hear from you.
Thanks

Nice to meet you. I survived a sudden complete dissection in 2015. Great to hear from somebody who likewise came out on the other side. Peace.

Go to Hospital or call 911 if you cannot drive.

Susan, if you have not already, contact your Primary Care Doctor or Cardiologist now. Based upon what they tell you after they get more information, you need to do it. Hope it is nothing serious and it gets better. Best not to take any chances or risks being the you have a stomach aneurysm.

See your doctor immediately. When in doubt, give a shout. Call 911 and let the EMTs take it from there. And let us know how things turn out.