A couple of questions.....

[valdab]

Before I put this to bed until my next check up, I wonder if I could prevail upon you kind and learned souls to offer some insight into a couple of things that have been bothering me. I have searched through the archives, but haven't been able to exactly answer my queries.


A lot of people seek out 2nd opinions. My (prospective) surgeon is approachable, empathetic, likeable and statistically appears to be one of the best in London. I'm pretty ok with him - is it remiss of me not to seek out the advice of somebody else? My CT scans were performed by my cardiologist - I have just had a brief meeting with the surgeon. Does everybody hunt around?

I have just received the letter from my cardiologist which confirms that my aortic root has grown from 4.6cm - 4.7cm between CT scans (ie two years apart). The yearly echoes showed a constant size of 4.5cm. I realise that I am edging ever closer to the point where surgery is called for - does that increase sound alarming? Does it make a difference if it is the root or elsewhere? My surgeon asked me what I wanted to do. I asked for his advice which was to wait another year which I was happy to accept. Subsequent reflection makes me wonder if I should just bite on the bullet and get it over with - the odds for the surgery are never going to change, and if I have to have it anyway.....

OTOH - timing isn't great; I have a holiday to India in a couple of weeks, then Xmas coming up. I suppose I'm looking for some reassurance that sitting it out for a year with a 4.7cm aortic root isn't a ridiculously reckless idea.

Thanks again for any advice offered.

 

[Sbullock]

Hi Valdab- I had a 5.4 cm ascending aneurysm repaired in June 2010. I had yearly echos that showed a 4.7 cm aneurysm for three years- I asked for a CT and the measurement came back 5.4 cms. I was referred immedialey to a surgeon at a good Toronto hospital and after meeting the surgeon(briefly) didn't think of getting a second opinion. I had checked his rep online and was comfortable with his skills and results. I was happy to get my surgery over with and as I did not need a valve(my bicuspid valve was fine) I am essentiallly cured and do not have to worry about it anymore. I'll get an echo every 2 years from now on just to make sure I stay "cured"
My surgeon and most others seem to want to wait til 5 cms so if your aneurysm is growing slowly and you don't worry alot then I guess you can wait.

 

[valdab]

My valve has no regurgitation and little to no stenosis - I asked the surgeon about the valve-sparing option but he gave me the impression it wasn't really an option ("while we're in there, we may as well replace it" were his words I think). I suppose that may be something ask around about. Thanks for the reply.

 

[camgough]

The valve sparing is much more technical than a replacement. If this type of surgery is something you are interested in, I would personally get a second opinion. Many surgeons do not do the sparing procedure but if you are a good candidate for it, I would look for more info.

Sent from my GT-I9100M using Tapatalk 2

 

[Lynlw]

Before I put this to bed until my next check up, I wonder if I could prevail upon you kind and learned souls to offer some insight into a couple of things that have been bothering me. I have searched through the archives, but haven't been able to exactly answer my queries.


A lot of people seek out 2nd opinions. My (prospective) surgeon is approachable, empathetic, likeable and statistically appears to be one of the best in London. I'm pretty ok with him - is it remiss of me not to seek out the advice of somebody else? My CT scans were performed by my cardiologist - I have just had a brief meeting with the surgeon. Does everybody hunt around?

I have just received the letter from my cardiologist which confirms that my aortic root has grown from 4.6cm - 4.7cm between CT scans (ie two years apart). The yearly echoes showed a constant size of 4.5cm. I realise that I am edging ever closer to the point where surgery is called for - does that increase sound alarming? Does it make a difference if it is the root or elsewhere? My surgeon asked me what I wanted to do. I asked for his advice which was to wait another year which I was happy to accept. Subsequent reflection makes me wonder if I should just bite on the bullet and get it over with - the odds for the surgery are never going to change, and if I have to have it anyway.....

OTOH - timing isn't great; I have a holiday to India in a couple of weeks, then Xmas coming up. I suppose I'm looking for some reassurance that sitting it out for a year with a 4.7cm aortic root isn't a ridiculously reckless idea.

Thanks again for any advice offered.

Val if it helps you not worry as much, IF you look at a picture or diagram of the Aorta, you'll see the root is normally much larger than the rest of the Aorta. These are rough numbers from memory (But if you search for root here you can probably find the "normals) anyway while the "normal" size for most of the thoriacic aorta is around 2-3 the normal for the Root is something like 3.5-4. So even tho a 4.7 is above normal it isnt as enlarged as it would be for the rest of the Aorta where 5 is usually when they start talking about surgery.

 

[pellicle]

personally if the surgeon thinks waiting isn't harmful I'd just wait. Gives you time to get a little more comfortable with the whole thing. That growth rate does not seem horrific (like what would I know?) and so if they're not stressed (and they're the ones who do know) then I'd not be stressed either.

When they found my dilated aorta they more or less said "we want to operate soon" so I had less time to consider the options. Not that consideration would have altered anything much.

My aorta and the rising aortic artery was enlarged to something like 5.5 when they found it (and so they were worried). If you don't normally have an athletic active life then just step it down a notch from that even and enjoy the year.

We enjoyed our trip to India (overall)
http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com.au/2008/06/indian-travel.html
http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com.au/2008/06/rajasthan-jaipur-and-tigers.html

hope you have fun

 

[valdab]

Thanks Lyn; I have often wondered if that was the case. I appreciate you taking the time to try to put my mind at rest.

Thanks for the sage advice pellicle and also the links to your blog. I shall settle down and read about your trip this evening. We're going to Jaipur and Ranthambore too. Needless to say we are very excited.