Recent content by Dan Zulu

I was in my early 30’s when I had my David procedure.

Anyone know of any medical studies on the durability of Dacron ascending aortas or the sutures?

Ever since my OHS I have them.

I never had migraines or visual disturbances before my surgery. For years now, ever since the OHS, I have optical migraines, shimmering lights that make me stop working. Neurological ophthalmologist thinks the 183 minutes on bypass caused it.

My surgeon said that my imaged 4.8cm root would continue to expand, and surgery was inevitable to repair it. Instead of delaying it with no benefit, I went ahead. In surgery it measured 5.0.

I had my root replaced when MRI estimated 4.9. I was 6'0" 190 at the time. No bav, no connective tissue disorder. Surgeon said it was measured as 5.0 during surgery and was ready to come out. I didn't want to delay the inevitable operation.

Definitely Google your state's insurance regulatory agency and see if they can help you. Here in California patients have many appeal rights that don't rely on insurer-funded "appeals." Unfortunately my federal health insurance is not affected by state law so I don't have that advantage. And...

This is one of the journals I discussed with my medical team during my pre-surgery deliberations. http://m.circ.ahajournals.org/content/116/10/1120.long

Hi Ultrarunner, I had a David valve sparing operation when my root measured 4.8 per MRI. Prior CT's and echo's in the preceding year had ranged from 3.8 to 4.5. Measured with a ruler in surgery it was 5.0. Healthy tricuspid aortic valve. When my surgeon told me that a 4.8 root aneurysm was...

I also saw a genetic doctor (M.D.) at a major hospital, and she could not detect any genetic explanation for my dilated aortic root. In my experience the cardiologists tend to defer detailed aortic aneurysm consultations to aortic surgeons. I received a much more comprehensive discussion...

I had my David valve sparing procedure a year ago when MRIs were consistently reading between 4.5 and 4.7. All of the surgeons told me that growth was inevitable and the periodic MRIs would reveal the rate of growth. The consensus was that when I reached 5.0 (no connective tissue disorder) the...

Because the measurements were so varied we didn't have definitive rates of growth, but it had been there a while. Between diagnosis and surgery was nine months.

I would recommend asking your doctor to calculate your Z score and then using that discussion to elicit the doctor's candid recommendations. For example, I asked multiple surgeons why the medical community balanced the risk of death in surgery against the annual risk of dissection (rapid...

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/424904-treatment#d1 Read the section entitled "Approach considerations"

My pre op root measurements were all over the board, from 3.8 to 4.7. It measured 5.0 in surgery shortly thereafter. How tall are you? Did you calculate your aortic surface index?