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Dialated Aortic root
Hello,
I'm a 78 year old male with what used to be excellent health. I was diagnosed with an expanded aortic root to the size 4.6 cm. My BP readings with out medications are generally excellent with diastolic readings in the 60 and 70's. The systolic readings are in the low 120's and sometimes even in the 115-119.. I was born with only two leaflets in the root as opposed to the normal three. I'm cosidering surgery to repair the aortic root but my concern , as well as my surgeons, is my kidney... as I'm a donor since 2005 and only have the right kidney. My creatinine readings are 1.20 to 1.25 and have maintained in those readings since the donation. Any thoughts?
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Bless you for being a donor. What a great thing. I would say that you are doing things right in seeking information and advice. I don’t know what to tell you other than you will figure it out. If I were in your position I would hold off until the situation became urgent to do anything drastic. If you are stable and not having any issues physically that are causing problems then I would wait and see.
Thank you...that's kind of what I seem to be doing. Good advice.
When were you diagnosed? I’m 63 and my aortic root dilation was just discovered 4 months ago. I have the typical 3 leaflets and my blood pressure is similar to yours. right now my doctors at mayo are telling me to get an echo 1x year to monitor growth. do you know your dilation’s growth rate?
Hi,
I was diagnoised in Decemebr of 2023. At that time a cardilogist read my dialiation at 4.9 with an echocardiogram I'm getting varied dilatation growth rates anywhere from 4.6 with a Gated CT scan (April 24) to a 5.1 with a recent (May 24) echocardiogram. Also getting conflicted reports on which test is more accurate for the aortic root measurment. One surgeon say the CT scan is the best and another claims the Echo is better??? I went for another CT scan just the other day but the radiologist opted out due to the dye needed and my only having one kidney. I'll confer with the surgeon this week. I've seen several cardiologist and two surgeons at this point, again, with conflicting views on the more accurate test. At this point it's check with CT scan every 6 months.
I was also diagnosed in December '23. I have never had any symptoms. My aneurysm was found in a checkup with my general practitioner after my 65 yr old brother died suddenly from an unexpected heart attack or aortic dissection. We don't know for sure because the autopsy that I had requested wasn't done. In December '23 my CT scan showed an ascending aortic dilation of 4.2, but missed an aortic root aneurysm. My echocardiogram that same day measured my ascending aorta dilation at 4.3, and found my aortic root aneurysm at 4.5. I was referred to a cardiologist in town for further testing and I got an echo from him in February that measured my ascending aorta at 4.1 and my Aortic root at 4.2. I got into Mayo in March, and my cardiologist there didn't like and was confused by the February echo and so I had another that day and it measured my ascending aorta at 4.2 and my aortic root at 4.7. For a number of reasons, he referred me to their congenital aorta specialist who did a Ct Scan with contrast that showed my ascending aorta at 4.1 and my aortic root at 4.8. I'm meeting with a geneticist at Mayo next month, and the congenital aorta specialist says that if DNA testing finds a genetic marker for this, she would recommend I look at surgery options now with the 4.8 measurement because genetically caused aneurysms are more dangerous sooner. If no marker is found she recommends that I get an echocardiagram one time per year, and to evaluate surgical options once the aortic root reaches 5.0. I am so glad I was able to get into the Mayo system. There are handful of hospital systems that are world class for aorta issues - and I would highly recommend you make sure that yours is one of them. Best of luck to you on this journey!
If surgery is necessary, I just found a medical group in England, Keyhole Heart Clinic. They do minimally invasive surgery for Dilated Aortic Root procedures cutting surgical time to 1 to 3 hours and recovery time within 7 days. Google Keyhole Heart Clinic. Interesting.