Aortic Root Dilatation

[Sunshine susan]

Hi everyone! Not posted in quite a while but definitely guilty of occasional lurking! I had AVR in 1999 (congenital BAV) with a St Judes artificial...no issues since. Until now. My last echo last week evidently showed an aortic root dilatation of the ascending aorta . I have a CT this week for a closer look. Currently have no information regarding gradients etc. I am mostly asking at this point for information on what to possibly expect. From reading other posts most seem to be monitored without immediate action. For various reasons, this past year has been very stressful and I wonder if that plays into it ....numerous "fight or flight" situations or a facsimile thereof and large work related. Anyway, anyone have any experience or thoughts on what may come next? Will check back when I have more specifics. Thanks!:confused2:

 

[Heart Of The Sunrise]

If your aortic root/ascending aortic is dilated in size near 5.0 cm- it is classified as an aneurysm. Surgery will most likely be recommended as urgent! Mine was 4.9 cm when diagnosed in Oct. 2012. I had my aortic valve replaced and had my aortic root and the ascending aortic completely reconstructed. I will be 28 days post-op tomorrow and I feel fine.

 

[Bracken]

When it comes to a dilated aorta size matters. An echo and CT confirmed that I had a dilated aorta of 5.6 cm. My cardiologist recommended immediate surgery. Unfortunately the only way to fix it is open heart surgery. Good luck with the CT and results. Keep us posted.

 

[Tiger]

I've wondered myself if anxiety/stress can worsen our heart problems..over a year ago I went through a horrible falling out with my husband that caused me to be so stressed and "heart broken" (thank God we have worked things out wonderfully!) but I am also a very anxious person in general!! And then I go to my appt this past fall and find out how worse my condition has gotten! I don't know if it has anything to do with it..but I personally think it might a little. Good luck to you and try to relax as much as you can!

 

[Sunshine susan]

Update! So CT showed that the aortic root dilation is 4.9....the Echo had shown it at 6.0. So I have to monitor...both cardio and vascular surgeon. Hopefully it doesn't get to surgery stage. Apparently has been there all along but at a lower reading. Yes, I think stress plays into this. Am trying to be calmer about everything!

 

[m11_9]

Thats still big. Keep a close eye on it. 2x normal (6) was an old target for surgery, but I think they try closer to 5 now if I recall.

Maybe see a cardiologist for an ARB, they have shown promise in reducing these in the Marfan Syndrome, but not proven. Many Marfan oriented cardios are putting patients on the Cozaar family of ARBs, but supposedly the children's trial didn't prove anything.

Surgery is not that bad though. A graft that includes a new valve would be nice to have a good factory seal to the new dacron root.

 

[Rachel]

I also think that 4.9 is pretty large, I'd get another opinion if I were you.

Surgery is not a bad thing, surgery saved my life - mine was 5.2cm - I wouldn't play around on this one

Rachel

 

[Heart Of The Sunrise]

Rachel is right do not mess around. 4.9...time for surgery real soon!!!!

 

[lubdub]

Aortic Root Dilatation

Cleveland clinic use a formula to determine when to operate

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/disorders/bicuspid_aortic_valve_disease.aspx

"At Cleveland Clinic, we have developed a special mathematical formula we use to determine this, based on the patient’s height and weight and the size of the aorta - surgery is usually recommended when the aortic cross sectional area in square centimeters, divided by the patient's height in meters is more than 10."

And here is an example of how to use it

http://jimshd.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/cleveland-clinic-formula-for-aneurysm.html

Definitely get a second opinion ...