interesting meeting with the surgeon

[Bryan B]

I had a Ross Procedure in 2004 and they first detected dilation in my root/ascending aorta in 2007. They weren't too concerned at first but when I came back in 2008 it had continued to dilate. I went to every 6 month check ups at that point and between my checkup in spring of 2010 and fall of 2010 it went from 4.8cm to 5.2cm and they sent me to have a surgical consult. The surgeon recommended surgery at my earliest convenience. I didn't have insurance at the time so there was some delay as I applied for disability (they put me on a no work order in fall of 2010). In late January of 2011 there was still no decision on my disability and my surgeon said that we needed to do the surgery and would worry about the "paperwork" later. Interestingly enough I was approved for disability the following week. They did an echo and CT scan before surgery and measured the dilation at 5.6cm. I had surgery on February 22nd and the surgeon said it was actually 5.8cm.

The moral of my long winded post is that in my case, the larger the dilation got, the faster it got larger.

 

[pekster11]

From the paper posted above:


The paper then goes on to say:

So it seems to me that even the paper that appears to support your Dr's position, in fact argues against his recommendation, unless the additional investigation, analysis and re-evaluation has been done.

yes i agree, from papers i've read, not replacing the ascending aorta when the valve is replaced would seem unusual

but if they're sure the tissue is not diseased and an aortoplasty will be a permanent fix, then that would be the way to go

my next meeting is with a specialist aortic surgeon...i will be asking him/her these questions

 

[KatherineA]

Wow, @pekster11 you are really amazing. Every time I read this Forum, no matter the topic, I know I am such a whoose (sp?) because choices like this would have caused me much angst. Or am really lucky my decline surgery happened so fast that I had no time to learn of so many possible complications. And, to top it off, I fell into the hands of one of the best surgeons in the country (world?) because of the circumstances.

you are in the best of hands and I thank you for sharing. Your sharing this information is so helpful to me for so many reasons. I can’t articulate this early in the morning

btw, I did want to make clear that with the assistance of a very patient Cleveland nurse, a local cardiologist and my GP, I was able to understand my surgery, the type, and I even watched a video of it yikes! I did close my eyes in parts... but it helped immensely and so all that is good.

between learning from you and browsing the site my new valve and head space are much happier going forward.

 

[spartangator]

Thanks for sharing, @Bryan B and @pekster11 . Hope all progresses well for you.