Regarding Aortic reinforcement

[heartman77]

Could anyone who had to have their Aorta reinforeced with Dacron tell me what their Aorta measured that necessitated the repair? I believe mine measured 4.2 but the surgeon said no repair or reinforcement was needed....Im just Curious about the parameters........thanks....Mike

 

[tobagotwo]

Do you have any prior readings? Has it grown at all?

If it has grown, it will continue to grow, and it will eventually cause a surgery (whether you need a new valve at that point or not). Not to mention the angst of the checking and wondering every year.

If it's expanding at all, I would want it taken care of - nipped in the bud! - if it were me. It may not need to be fixed now, but what's the point of going through the danger and stress of having it expand over time and having to risk an extra surgery for it later?

Best wishes,

 

[mainframe]

We ask that question while at Stanford and the answer I was given that 4.5 was considered the point the aorta would be addressed while performing a needed aortic valve replacement.

I've heard the point at which surgery is necessary for just the aorta is 5.0 or greater but I'm sure those who have had a disection at less than 5.0 would disagree.

 

[Bean Counter]

I am having surgery in 2 weeks and am having my aortic valve replaced and am having my aorta reinforced with the dacron strip. The worst my aorta got was 4.3. I was a competitive runner at the time and that was enough for the cardiologist to tell me I could not run the marathon in 2 weeks. That was October 2009. Since that time, he said no racing and "limited" my mileage to 50 miles a week. A few months later my aorta got down to 3.8.

Once my leak got bad enough for surgery, I got 3 different opinions from 3 surgeons. They all agreed that it was too early to replace the aorta. The surgeon that is going to perform my surgery recommended that I go with the dacron reinforcement. There is limited research out there, but that stuff I did find was all positive. Hope that helps.

 

[Marfaned]

mainframe above has a point. I am one of those who would worry about going all the way to 5.0 as I was "unzipped by god" at 5.0. An IRAD study showed that at post mortem a large number of dissections/rupture deaths occurred at 4.5 to 5.0. This is not to frighten anybody but each person has to be looked at separately from a family history, growth rate and overall health perspective. Also the modern method mostly resects and replaces the aorta with Dacron rather than reinforcement.

 

[Gail in Ca]

Mine was at 6 when discovered. It fell apart in my surgeon's hands and he had to cut it out and just sew in the dacron graft. Lab results showed granulomatous aortitis, which I didn't know I had. Twenty years later, it was removed and replaced with a new valve inside a hemashield graft after endocarditis did damage to the ring of my valve and the graft area as well.

 

[malibu82]

hi there. i had an echo done in feb.2008 that said my aneurysm was 4.2cm. no need to worry. then i had an echo done in december 2009 and it measured 4.8cm. the doctor said i would need surgery by the end of the year when he guessed it would get to 5 cm.

i had symptoms and wanted to get surgery over with since i also needed my aortic valve replaced. came out of surgery and asked me husband how big the aneurysm really was. it was only 4.2cm but they replaced it anyhow since they were in there and it would need replacing in the future.

 

[heartman77]

Thanks all for all that info.....I really appreciate it...Im 24 hours from surgery and I will definitely have a conversation with the surgeon before i go under about this. ....Mike

 

[Luana]

Thanks all for all that info.....I really appreciate it...Im 24 hours from surgery and I will definitely have a conversation with the surgeon before i go under about this. ....Mike

Are you planning on having the conversation with surgeon tomorrow before surgery? Chance are you won't see him, unless you've been told that you would, so if you have a question, I'd call the office today and ask for a call back.

 

[heartman77]

Yes the office called me and told me that the Surgeon will talk to me just before surgery to confirm my choice of valve and I am going to raise this issue with him then...thanks a lot....Mike

 

[kpearse]

i had symptoms and wanted to get surgery over with since i also needed my aortic valve replaced. came out of surgery and asked me husband how big the aneurysm really was. it was only 4.2cm but they replaced it anyhow since they were in there and it would need replacing in the future.

Your lucky, I've read the hospital records, my aortic root was 4.2, and the asending 3.9. Wish they took care of that while I was open!