Early surgery: Can I get aortic aneurysm repair before it's 5.0?

My dad lived to 88 with no aneyrsum repair. The very first dr I took him to wanted to do surgery right away. Of course I took dad for second opinion which was absolutely not it was to small.
My husband has a AAA
ITS 4.3 last check.
Every 6 months its checked by the dr we now know 30 years.
Same dr that took care of my dad. So besides bladder cancer he has the AAA. Hes had it for so many years now I have lost track.
Please seek out opinions from drs.
🙏

When you first hear you have an aneurysm, but they don't usually do anything until it's 5- 5.5 cm, you think, that's not far from 4.2. When you get over the shock and hear that people have been living with 4 cm aneurysms for years, you relax a little. I don't want surgery until I have to. I'm 70 and hoping that it grows so slowly that I never have to. Unless they come up with a much easier way. Then I want them to practice on quite a few, before me.🙂 I'm content with watchful waiting.

I understand those feelings well!!

Yes!! I guess in a few more years we may have a better idea of what is going on.

I'm glad at least the highest measurements are still fairly far below 5.0. At least I think I'm glad. Some days I think I want surgery now but usually I'm happy to wait!

Isn’t it frustrating to have measurements all over?? I’ve had 4.2 , 4.4 . 4.1 ??

It is a shock to hear the diagnosis of aneurysm. When you stop and think about it, with an aneurysm of 4.2 cm, we've been living with this without knowing for who knows how long. My younger sister's PCP recommended she be worked up, because of my diagnosis. She just saw a Cardiologist, but still needs to get her Echo and CT angiogram. He said that 4.2 is a mild to moderate aneurysm. She lives in Lancaster, Pa and he is a PENN cardiologist. He also told her that they are working on surgical advancements every day and that they had just recently performed an endovascular repair of a TAA in Philadelphia.
I'll be 71 this year. I'm hoping that it will grow slowly and I never have to have surgery. Maybe we'll find out in April that our aneurysms have remained at 4.2. I wish you the best!!

When/if to have surgery is the most concerning thing for me with this diagnosis. Mine is around 4.5cm and the diagnosis was two years ago. The growth so far, if any, is in the margin of error. So I've had measurements of 4.3, 4.5 and 4.7. Hopefully it won't grow, but I can't help thinking about what I'll do if it does. I'm 64.

I had Polymyalgia Rheumatica right before my diagnosis. (The testing to figure out what was going on lead to the diagnosis. 600 CAC and a 4.5 cm aneurysm. Life turning point.) I was pretty fit at the time, running 15-20 miles a week, but was sidelined for a few months. I've not been able to recover my fitness level in the two years since. Maybe it's just fear of over exerting, but I don't think so. I sometimes go harder than I think I really should. So the prospect of starting over mid-70s is scary.

Peg, I have exactly the same diagnosis, 4.2 cm and no history to determine rate of growth. I see my cardiologist in April as well, not sure what I can do except maintain overall good health. To that end I think I should try hard to avoid stress and stick to moderate exercise. I turn 69 in May, and this has been surprising and sobering news.

It is your decision, but if it were me I would trust the surgeon. The odds they give you of something going wrong are very low (and they exagerate them a little to be on the safe side), and if it is a recognized surgeon and hospital, those odds would decrease even more. As your Dr says, you are in good shape and taking care of your body through the years is now your best ally. I had my surgery at 5.2cm, surgeon recommended I had it as soon as possible, as it was large for my body size and there was a history or aneurysms in my family. It was found by chance while prepping me for leg surgery after a bike accident, for me the stress of knowing I had one was way stronger than any fear I had of surgery. Being in good shape helped my recovery, I was out of the hospital in 5 days, back to work in 3 weeks.

When I was about 14 my nextdoor neighbor collapsed at the side of his house, he was moaning in excruciating pain, he was alone, so I jumped the fence to help him as my mom called an ambulance, I struggled but managed to get him inside and on his bed, he was awake but you could tell the pain was overwhelming and made him unresponsive. He passed 2 hours later at the hospital, he had a large AAA, he knew but in his case he was around 80, the odds they had given him were low. But that was decades ago, medicine has come a long way since. When my time came, they gave me excellent odds, I did not doubt, I had surgery 3 months after leg surgery as they want you walking right away.

Wish you the best!!!

My case is similar to you. I am at 5.1 cm and mulling over surgery at 70 years old. My doc is recommending it instead of waiting for it to get to 5.7 cm where we would do the surgery right away. Mine has not grown in 3 years, we measure every 3 months. I don’t like the 3-4% surgical risks of stroke, infection, heart attack. I am totally healthy otherwise.