Ascending Aortic Aneurysm with Bicuspid Valve

Your young I'm 70 , at 5cm , All you can do is change your diet and light exercise
CT scan every year , see if it grows , at 5.5cm they fix it , Don't freak out , kinda a waste of time

I think it's a 96% success rate on fixing them , they've been doing these since 1950 or something
the only thing is your down 4 to 6 weeks healing
one surgeon I read about that had one fixed was back working in 2 weeks

You have what I have . I'm thinking they'll fix mine late Dec 24 when it gets to 5.5 cm , I'm betting it will grow by then , its a hassle thinking about it , Wasting my time

Mine was 5.2 when I had it fixed at 54 (I’m 58 now), according to my surgeon, my good physical health and fitness, not having ever smoked, gave me almost 0 risk in surgery, I had the surgery, out of the hospital in less than a week, back to work in 3. Not going to minimize it, it’s painful and I felt awful at times. I am back at full workouts and normal life, my only restrictions come from a leg fracture prior to heart surgery (how they found the aneurysm)

PS: I also have a bicuspid valve which will have to be replaced at some point in the next 10 years, now that the aneurysm is fixed that can happen with a catheter. I see my cardiologist annually to check the valve, so far still working well

Hello, thank you so much for your response and I appreciate it. Last month has been little stressful to know these findings.

When was your aneurysm was detected and how much was the size when detected? Just curious as how long it took to grow to 5cm?

I been focused currently on BP and I do Elliptical for 60 minutes each day keeping HR at 136 max (80% or my max HR) what my cardiologist told me.

My next appt with Cardiologist on 1/18 and my next CT scan in June 2024!

Thanks again.

I really appreciate your response. I have my cardiologist appt on 1/18 where I will ask bunch of questions. He is very good and supportive.
I am just wondering as how long will it take for my 4.5cm to grow to 5.5cm? Especially with bicupsid valve.
My BP remains 125/83 and overall healthy with daily workout. I used to do 1 hour full cardio at 170 heart beat and I slowed that to 136max heartbeat and stop lifting weights as well.
They are going to do my 22 year old son ECO Cardio next week to verify if he has bicuspid valve due to genetics or not.
Where did you did your surgery?
Again, I appreciate you took time to provide your experience and providing me with much needed comfort.

I think it's been a year and a half
they found it by accident looking for something else
Its was 4.8 , I kinda shrugged it off , Then they did the stress test and echo scan
They said it was 4,3 , but the cardio surgeon nurse said , nope it 5 cm on Ct scan I had done Nov 2023
So now its back in June 2024 also on new Ct Scan , see if its grown
I haven't done surgery yet , its has to reach 5.5 before they fix it at the Veteran's hospital San Fran
But what I read Medicare, at say at a civilian hospital... they don't fix till it gets 5.5 also .
I walk everyday changed my diet and quit smoking , well pretty much I might smoke one or two a day
genetics ? could be my sister was a blue baby , died at 21 , In my case I think it was caused by 55 years smoking and laying carpet , I'm not really sure really
Bottom line its not the end of the world , they can fix the problem with surgery
Good luck ,

I don’t know how fast my aneurysm grew, they found it by chance as I was being prepped for leg fracture surgery already at 5.2 (in late 2019). Based on my surgeon’s feedback I decided to have the surgery ASAP, had to wait 3 months to allow the fracture to heal a little . The only reference I have is that in 2011 I found out I had a bicuspid valve and at that moment they did not report an aneurysm, so more than likely was small enough to be undetectable. My surgery was in Houston with Dr Anthony Estrera, an amazing surgeon. I also had my sons checked, both tricuspid. There is a genetic propensity to aneurysms in my family, so my siblings also got checked, all tricuspid.

One more thing the nurse said " Are you willing to participate in research' on fixing this problem before it reaches 5.5 " I said yes . So what that entails , no idea .
I guess I'll see in June on new Ct Scan at San Fran Veteran's hospital
I kinda doubt my sister being a "Blue Baby" had anything to do with my problem, but hard to say .
A Blue Baby is a heart problem at birth.