Recent content by Equusz

Some of us here are medical practitioners. :)

"4 and 5" were measurements of her aorta. She has a 4.0cm dilation and 5.0 is the usual number for surgery.

Hi there: I would do a lot of reading up on this forum and find out about the anatomy and physiology of the heart, aortic valve, and aorta. It's really not hard...a lot of people on this forum are more informed than some doctors. From what I've seen, there are a lot of great sources and...

Samantha: I see you're in Vancouver. If you have $250 to spare, take him up to Swedish in Seattle. They do the EBT scan with no referral needed. Appointments are easy to get with almost no wait time. The EBT will get him a look at his coronary arteries for any plaque that might be causing the...

Wow, twenty years! I wonder if mine will stay at 4.7 for that long. Somehow I doubt it. I have this nagging feeling that even though we know it hasn't moved for at least 3 years, somehow knowing about it will make it start expanding. I so hypersensitive now to every sensation in my chest. Kinda...

I'd be a few hours away from the O.R., sure. But I'm cleared for offshore work by more than one doc...the risk is considered low enough, for now.

Bill - thanks for the reply. Always glad to hear more success stories with the docs I've picked. Maryka - sorry to hear about your hip! I hope your replacement goes smoothly when it happens. Can I ask, how many years elapsed between the discover of your BAV and aneurysm and the heart failure in...

I know this is an old thread, but I recently emailed the Exstent people about the application of this wrap in BAV patients with ascending aortic aneurysms. Here's their response: As EARS is entirely bespoke to each patient, it should be applicable to any form of aortic dilation including...

Hiyas: Been awhile since I posted and thought I'd share the info I received in January. To recap: I had a EBT CT scan of my heart at Swedish Hospital in Sept '09. I do this every few years just to watch for heart disease and because they do walk-ins for $200. Good news: no plaque to speak of...

Oh, this isn't brand new, and it's been reported on by several major journals over the past couple years. Google "ghost heart" and you'll find more research on it. It's definitely going to work eventually, but we're still some years out. Stem cells are amazing and this will be the new future.

I've heard good things about Dr. Liang - supposedly one of Stanford's best cardios. Dr. Miller's clinic is hooking me up with him for a full workup to find out exactly what my condition is and when/if they're likely to recommend surgery.

Wow, Superman, that's pretty fast growth alright. Surgery definitely was warranted. I wonder when/if mine will start growing like that...

Mainframe: Did Dr. Miller say you needed surgery? I haven't seen him yet, but have been corresponding with his nurse practitioner (who handles his intake) and he says Dr. Miller's not likely to recommend surgery now. But he'll know more after he sees my images and does some of his own. --Equusz

Found out about it last month, but when they pulled my only other chest CT (2006) they found out it was the same size then. So, 4.5 cm for the last 3 years (or longer, who knows). The radiologists won't call it an aneurysm. 3 of them have insisted it's "ectatic" not "aneurysmal". I'm getting an...

If the pain changes when you move, it's likely musculo-skeletal. If it doesn't, then cardiac needs to be ruled out at the ER. Equusz