AO in the echo after valve repair

[lebaneso]

i had valve repair 3 month ago about 2 weeks ago i did my last echo and everything is great i had problems with pvcs and heart rate but they seem to be settling down however i found out something interesting that is making me anxioous right now my AO pre surgery was 34 mm and in the first echo after surgery it was still 34 mm but now it is 37 mm so is it enlarging and is Ao the ascending aort ?? should i worry about this because my doc didnt even care to mention it does anyone know if it is normal that the Ao enlarges because my LV went from 55mm to 44mm so is this part of the normal shifting or will it enlarge more?????
Thanks for the help

 

[Roberta]

Personally, I wouldn't put 100% faith in one echo reading. As my cardiac nurse explained, they looks at trends and one test can be off for various reasons. I have had various echos that have shown some discrepancy. I apologize, but I am not sure what AO stands for.
If you are concerned I would put a call in to your doctor to clarify.

 

[lebaneso]

i think it stands for ascending aorte or thats what i think at least and you may be right echo readings may vary especially that my heart is still recovering from mitral valve repair and its shifting its size anyway if anyone has an idea please help us

 

[AZ Don]

3mm is probably less than the margin of error on an echo. There was a thread not too long ago that discussed the inaccuracy of the echo test. An echo showed someone's aneurysm increased more than 5mm I believe, so they had to go for a follow-up MRI at significant expense only to find that it hadn't changed, only the echo measurement had. I'm not sure what AO stands for either but I've never heard any relation between aneurysm growth and LV.

 

[Eva]

I totally agree with AZ. 3mm is not worth the tension nor any attention!