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Ended up with an emergency Bentall Procedure during open heart surgery
I have mentioned details in other posts on how I ended up at Mayo and won't repeat it. I had a situation where the aortic root end was at 4.8 and the ascending aorta end was 4.7 cm. That was found last October when I went in for unusual symptoms and heart pain. The local cardiologist did a nuclear perfusion test and concluded that the left anterior descending artery (LAD) had no blockages and told me the symptoms weren't coming from the dilated aorta. That was January 5 of this year. Symptoms got incrementally worse. My primary care Dr had a 2nd echocardiogram done 6 months after the Oct 2023 echo and got me into Mayo, Jacksonville for a second opinion. The Cardiologist at Mayo had a CT with IV contrast done that discovered something shocking. I had a congenital issue, a complex coronary fistula. On August 6th and angiogram with possible intervention was done additional findings were found the prevented intervention by catheter. They did an additional procedure that day to check the right side of the heart. The complex fistula was even more complicated than thought. In addition, my mid LAD was completely blocked for a long time and there was a 70% blockage and 60% blockage in the LAD and a branch as well. I also had an aneurysm off the right coronary artery at the base of the aortic root and an aberrant bronchial artery that was dilated.
Open heart surgery was recommended to address all these issues on Sep 10th. The aberrant bronchial artery was occluded on Sep 4th by coils at the surgeon request.
I discussed options on the aortic root and valve with the surgeon and agreed that IF something needed to be done, he would try to save the valve with other contingency options.
He did the LAD bypass, ligated the complex fistula, repaired the aneurysm on the right coronary artery and was about to close up when the aortic root ruptured. He then did an emergency Bentall procedure to replace the root, valve and part of the ascending aorta.
Here I am 4 weeks out of an open heart surgery that lasted from 7:30 am to 10pm. I am convinced I had the best cardiovascular surgeon n the country.
If I had listened to the local cardiologist, I would have been lucky to make it to Christmas much less my birthday.
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Wow. Yours is quite a story. You were so fortunate to have the right people on your case at the right time. I hope your recovery goes well.
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2 ReactionsYeah, this is an amazing story indeed. Enjoy your physical therapy and stay active... get that heart back in shape!
That’s crazy ! Sounds like all is well now . Good thing your Primary Care sent you for second opinion . Wish you the best .
Everything is good. I have to keep tabs on the short remaining section of ascending aorta next to the arch. This time last year, I literally felt like I was dying about 6 days out of 7.
Wow, you made it through that and I am worried about a double aneurysm in the ascending aorta with 4.2cm and a 4.5cm aneurysms. With an average growth rate of 1/3rd cm each year, I figure I have at least 3 years to go before surgery needs to be considered, since 5.5cm appears to be the level at which something has to be done. But, every six months requires a test to see if mine falls within the average growth rate. Thank you for sharing your triumphant story. it makes one realize that there is always hope no matter how serious one sees their own situation.
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1 ReactionSounds like you’re on the mend . Have a great summer.
what an amazing story. Glad your surgery was successful. I too have a 4.4 cm ascending anurysm and pretty much at the root of my heart. I have only talked with one surgeon at UCLA so far and he said that the only option I have is an open heart surgery . I am currently in Germany and waiting for an appointment to see a specialist here in Stuttgart. I was hoping that there are other options to get this fixed but reading your story I doubt that ... My question for you is : what kind of pain did you experience prior to getting surgery?
I am pretty active and I experience a stinging sensation in my heart on occasion. I also feel that my heart palpitations have worsened in the last year. It's hard not to read into this at times and think that every little thing i feel might be related to "the aneurysm" but I try to be positiv . I hope your are well , best wishes.
I had 3 other major procedures done that day. The pain I felt was likely from the complex coronary fistula that went from my right coronary artery to the pulmonary artery and left anterior descending artery to the pulmonary artery. There was also a large aneurysm on my RCA which had to be repaired. The mid-LAD was 100% blocked because of the fistula diverting blood to the pulmonary artery under physical exertion. Collaterals from that complex fistula, ironically, was supplying just enough blood to the heart tissue to keep me alive. I was experiencing sharp intense pains to the left side of my chest just bellow the breast at random times. That's what prompted me to get checked out. The local cardiologists told me my LAD was fine and just watch the aneurysm. I assumed that my pain must have been coming from the aortic root and ascending aorta. However, Mayo found all that stuff between Jul 22 and Aug 6 of 2024 and I was in open heart surgery for over 14 hours on Sep 10 2024. They repaired the RCA, ligated the fistula, did a double bypass on the LAD. Then the root ruptured, aorta split so the repaired all of that in emergent situation. That remaining section was left due to the length of time in surgery and the fact i had to have 17 units of blood products due to losing 3.5L of blood.