r/aortic_aneurysm

I'm 49 M. Figure, I'll get the Calcium test done. Went in Monday. Results a few hours ago.

Calcium Score 14 on the LAD. not the end of the world. everything else was zero.

Other observations: "Possible ascending Aortic aneurysm measuring up to 4cm with limited evaluation on this study."

My cholesterol was a little elevated in my last lipid panel. My BP is totally normal. 6ft. 195 lbs. Now I have to start researching everything about this. My primary wants me to coming in to talk in 2 weeks. I'm already researching CT scans and cardiologists.

Very good info on here. very much appreciated and it has calmed me down a bit after thinking my heart could explode at any moment.

I'm only 39 now. When I was 38 I had a stroke. They found a large 14mm PFO in my heart that caused the stroke when a clot went through the hole and into my brain.

Following this, I had surgery to close the PFO. Aaaaand following the surgery they found that I have a 4cm dilation of the Aorta at the level of sinus of Valsalva.

It's been a rough year!! I'm not a tall guy (5-9), I'm not heavy at all. I have a RHR of 52 and it can drop to 43. I'm healthy and have no cholesterol issues or anything. I'm trying to get back to exercise. I used to like weights and running.

So it's not been 7 months since the stroke and 5 months since the PFO surgery. I'm trying really hard. I've had other unfortunate stroke issues to deal with obviously, but those aside, I finally have the bandwidth to look into this aortic issue and it's quite serious?

The cardiologist said I may have been born this way. But should I be worried. He was there to take care of the PFO closure and follow up for which he said I don't need to see him again. So what now? Please help with advice or similar stories. Am I doomed to have to go back every year? Will this inevitably get worse? I've had enough stuff happen and I want to be done with more problems :/

Has anyone out there had an aortic aneurysm? If so what type of treatment did you receive? I was just diagnosed with one and feel like I am not getting proper treatment

Hello, I am almost a year out from an ascending aortic root replacement and hemiarch repair. I am on 50mg of metropolol twice a day as well.

I wanted to follow up with people on here as I am having a thumping pounding in my chest in the middle of my sternum (not my actual heart). If I hold my breath or take a full breath I will then feel a knocking of what I am assuming is the graft against my chest going with my heartbeat. (Prior to a few months this was happening every second of the day with my heartbeat.

I was told this is because the Dacron graft itself is noncompliant/cannot expand like your natural aorta.

For those who have had surgery /similar surgery, are any of you experiencing this? Do you still have this years later or did it go away completely? Did you never have this?

I am hoping to get more answers.

Any information is appreciated. Thank you.

Hi everyone,
I’m posting here in the hope that someone, whether a medical professional or someone with similar experience,might offer insight into what happened to my father-in-law (63yo).
Unfortunately, he passed away very suddenly after a “partial”, as doctors said, rupture of his abdominal aorta. What makes this especially confusing is that doctors told us he did not have an aneurysm, and that his case was extremely rare..
He made it to the hospital in time and underwent emergency surgery. In total, he had 4 surgeries. During the first one, he developed severe blood clots, which caused a major blockage in his leg. This led to a very high-level amputation (hip disarticulation).
After that, things continued to deteriorate. The amputation “wound” showed signs of necrosis that went deep into the bone (level of the hip) whereas his other leg also began showing signs of gangrene, suggesting widespread circulation problems.
Despite all efforts, his condition kept worsening, and eventually the doctors told us they had no more surgical options. It was a dead end. He passed away shortly after due to septic shock and organ failure…how on earth did it come to this?..
What’s been very hard for us is that no one has been able to clearly explain what actually caused the rupture. He was a long-time smoker, but otherwise didn’t have known major health issues. He was on anticoagulant (blood-thinning) medication.
We are devastated beyond words and still trying to make sense of it all. If anyone has medical insight, or has seen or heard of something similar, especially a spontaneous aortic rupture without an aneurysm, combined with severe clotting complications, we would be incredibly grateful to hear your thoughts.
We’re desperately looking for answers!! Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Hello, has anyone had any luck with finding a US surgeon who is willing to provide a letter of medical necessity for PEARS? I received a reference for a Dr Cameron at Hopkins but he's no longer seeing patients and contacting him is impossible.

I have a ascending aortic aneurysm
Measured 4.0 last August in ct
And 4.2 on echo last November

I’ve been doing echo every 6 months for 20 plus years from now idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy -my ef is currently about 40.

Didn’t get diagnosed with the aneurysm until a few years ago .
I also have a icd-because of vtach

I went to a cardiac geneticist - I have a full line deletion of myosin 11- myh11 . Whuch affects the smooth muscle tissue in my body . Explains my dilation also my 2 retinal detachments.
When I did my genetics test -turns out I’m the only documented case of full lien deletion of myh11.

My genetics dr explained it’s a connective tissue issue-kind of cousin of Marfans .
I have some markers of marfans -4 out of 10.

My dr told me to get the aortic repair around 4.6-4.8 ,not tp wait till 5.5-6.
I also have a valve issue-which is moderate .
I’ve been reading the board ,ty for posting stories of aortic repair surgery ,just wanted to introduce myself.

I take meds for bp, don’t lift anything heavy ,try to reduce stress etc . Any other advice ?

My dad (52) had untreated hypertension, was overweight and a smoker. We knew he needed treatment for bp and high cholesterol but he just wouldn’t go.. he was scared of doctors. In the back of my mind I was always scared that something bad was going to happen to him, but I never expected an AAA, matter of fact, I didn’t even know what an aneurysm was. He got really sick and finally went to a radiologist where he found out he had an AAA of 9,8cm. He immediately went to the ER and after spending few days in the ICU he had surgery, which thankfully went good and he has been recovering as expected as of right now.
Honestly- the guilt is eating me up. It’s been a month since the surgery and it’s still unreal to me. The fact that he was a literal ticking bomb about to burst and the high chance of it rupturing is unfathomable. I feel really guilty for not forcing him to get help earlier. Obviously I’m beyond grateful he survived and made drastic lifestyle changes but I can’t help but think about what could’ve happened.
I wish AAA was more talked about.

Good morning y'all. I'm a 55 y.o. male with CAD and an un-diagnosed heart attack; had surgery in '22 for a single coronary artery bypass and an AAA (ascending aortic aneurysm) repair (4.6 cm). Had some difficulty oxygenating well after surgery, so I was on a ventilator for a couple of days after the surgery. Once I was released, I went through recovery at home alone. Word to the wise- never order groceries when high on painkillers, unless you REALLY like surprises.

I've also got fairly severe hypertension (if unmedicated, it skyrockets into hypertensive crisis range), and have a couple of other artery blockages, mostly in the 30%-60% range. The outlier is a 100% occluded LAD, but the cardiologist who performed my last heart cath said that there is adequate collateral circulation so it's not as much of a risk (my LAD is just a nub at this point).

Over the past year or so I began having episodes of heart palpitations, a feeling of heaviness in my chest, sometimes chest or back pain along with it (more of a dull ache), dizziness, mild nausea at times. They mainly seem to happen when I'm highly stressed about something.. work, finances, arguments with my wife, etc, and leave me super tired, sometimes for a day afterwards. Given my history, I ended up going to the ER a couple of times, mostly out of an overabundance of caution. I was told that the episodes were likely stress-induced angina.

This happened again a few days ago, with the added perk of my strength totally leaving my legs when I was removing a low-mounted server from a server rack (I work in IT). I was also experiencing the same angina symptoms; once they passed, I felt weak & shaky for several hours. I ended up going to a clinic to get checked out, and was told the same thing by the ER doc. However, this time, my CT scan showed a 4.6 cm dilation of my aortic root, just below the last repair. It's the same size as my AAA when it was repaired.. no idea why the ER doc didn't mention it. I've got a request to schedule an app't with a cardiologist for further examination.. I almost don't want to, because man alive, that heart surgery was a bitch to get through.

Has anyone else had an aneurysm recur after a repair? If so, what size was it when/if surgery was recommended? I feel like this is stressing me out much more than it should.

Has anyone tried to treat themselves with stem cells to reverse dilation? Looking for stories of trying, outcomes and/ or any insights about research and/or expert recommendations.

What about peptides like ss-31?