Thoracic aortic aneurysm 5.2 Advice-please

Tell it like it is Martin. Ignore it at your own peril.

Don't be scared! Get informed and then get the procedure done. You will not regret it despite the few months of rehab.
My aneurysm was diagnosed at 5.4cm last November. They told me to continue to exercise by walking... nothing else too strenuous, but it is important to stay as healthy as possible prior to surgery. I had my surgery late Feb, was in the hospital for 7 days but then went home and was walking 10-15k steps daily within 3 weeks. Despite one setback, I am back to walking, hiking and biking like I was before surgery.

As the others have said, you do want to find a surgeon who does this surgery regularly. It is worth researching... there are a lot of good ones out there.

Glad you had a great surgeon...thanks for posting the pic!

My stay in the hospital was two weeks. It would have been one except that my liver function had suffered.
And I had no pain. At all. Some pain from using arms and stretching /lifting. Don't do that. Just let it heal.
I was walking short distance at first but then for 1 or 2 hours within weeks. Working in 8weeks. Normal life within 12.

Very helpful, thank you. Where did you have the surgery? Mine is at 5.0 and I am trying to decide where to go when time comes.

I would not worry about the surgery if you go to a hospital that is a HIGH VOLUME center.

My best friend had open heart surgery at HOAG, in Newport Beach, CA, and he had no pain at all, and he's a complainer! Think of how good you'll feel when it's over, and you don't have anymore the worries...

So do the research. Ask hard questions... How many ascending aortic aneurysm repairs has the surgeon done? At high volume centers they have a TEAM of specialists working together for your surgery. I'd travel any distance to get the best treatment.

Luckily for me, when the time comes, I'll have the repair at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles. The other top hospital in the country is the Cleveland Clinic. But there's many other great centers in the country...Do lots of research and get second opinions!

Take action and you'll get through this just fine!

I had my operation at St. Anthony's Hospital in Lakewood by Dr. Patrick Rudersdorf who (according to my cardiologist) geeks out on this sort of operation. He was very good and I'd certainly recommend both him and St. Anthony's.
The post operative care there was excellent... the nurses were angels in helping me through those first few days. Saw the doc every day when he did his rounds.

Thank you and georgeh for your thoughts. I’m in an extremely anxious place right now being at 5.0 and not yet comfortable with a specific surgeon or location for the surgery. I have been stable for a few years, so my doctors are not recommending any further action right now. I live in Jacksonville, FL, so Mayo Clinic here has guided me thus far, and I have a CT every 6 months. But, they don’t do a high volume of these surgeries. And, I worry about the trade off from traveling to a high volume facility vs being near home. At this point if I did travel, I have thought it would be to Mayo Rochester or Cleveland Clinic.

First of all, is this a cardiovascular surgeon that specializes in ascending thoracic aneurysms? Does he or she have publications suggesting he has expertise and also experience? If not, you need a second opinion.
Is he or she at a center that performs a high volume of ascending thoracic aneurysm surgeries? If not, your second opinion should be at a high volume center - most likely an academic center that does a high volume of these surgeries.
Does the center do research in methods to keep the brain perfused with blood and oxygen after they crack open your chest? We think that is very important.
Did you have a CT angiogram? An echo often gives different results that a CT angiogram. You need a CT angiogram.
You should also probably have a PET scan to look more closely at the vessels, which surround the aneurysm. Is there any evidence of vasculitis? Vasculitis would suggest you should have surgery in the near future.
You need a lot of information to make a good decision. In September of 2022, experts in this area produced a very good consensus document. I will find the reference and place it on this thread. As others have suggested, you need information and lots of it.

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001106
Here is a great resource: It will tell you much of what you need to know.

Best wishes to all.