Aortic Aneurysms – Introduce yourself & meet others

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.

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

@ 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.

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.

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

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

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 everyone. I just joined this site today. Last week after having an x-ray I was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm 4.0cm. It is Sunday today so I haven’t been able to talk to any other doctors or to any doctors for that fact. I also have rheumatoid arthritis which I guess can be a factor also again not sure. It seems kind of scary to me. My question to everyone is, should I be concerned?

Short answer: Yes, you should be concerned. Long answer: You're gonna be fine. You came to the right place. You know you have a problem and you are going to address it now that you've identified it. That's 95% of the risk--not knowing that you have an aortic aneurysm. Surgery is typically not indicated until you get to 5.0 cm. For right now, you need to get a referral to a thoracic surgeon who can look at your scans and help you make a plan for whether or not you will need to have surgery anytime soon. It's going to depend on how fast that aneurysm grows. For now, you can reduce your risk by stopping smoking and not engaging in hypertensive activities like dead lifting or planking. Any physical activity that requires you to use a Valsalva maneuver is dangerous (google it). Again, you're gonna be fine, but you may need to have open heart surgery to address it. The sooner you get a plan and place the better. I had a sudden aortic dissection at age 50 and it is not what you want. It's a very difficult condition to survive once you dissect because they have to do open heart surgery to repair it and there's often not enough time. So, bad news is that you've got an aneurysm. Good news is that you know about it so you can do something about it. The best person to talk to about this condition is a thoracic surgeon who specializes in aortic repairs. They know and understand when surgery is implicated and what the best plan for you is. This is not the kind of surgery that can be done using a stent fed up through your femoral artery. This is open-heart surgery to repair your aorta. It's big stuff and you need to have a big smart team on board to make sure that you are doing what you need to do in preparation for that sometime in the future. Peace.

I was diagnosed a couple of months ago on a Friday so I spent an anxious weekend with so many questions. I hear 'ya. I also have rheumatoid arthritis, so I hear you loud and clear. My AA is 4.2 and I think I also have a leaky valve but I try not to think about that. You need to see a cardiologist ASAP and go from there. Good luck. This group is a godsend.