A bit of a shocker

[GoldfishPond]

I'm hoping that the Aorta is ok to talk about in this forum.. (My logic is that it's attached to the heart so it should be ok)

I got a letter from my vascular consultant yesterday, reviewing a telephone meeting I had with him after CT scan. One sentence stood out for me. 'as he (me) has a small focal dissection in the lower aorta which might be prejudiced by any instrumentation during angioplasty'

Alarm bells going off all over the place in my head. Even the briefest of searches of Dr Google indicates that this is not good. I will be trying to get back in touch with the consultant, however in the meantime I don't know what I can and cannot do. Can I exercise, can I cross my legs, etc without opening up the dissection further and getting a real big problem.

So if anyone has had this condition or has any suggestions (not medical advice but general) then that would be most appreciated.

TIA

[JulianM]

The answer to your main question is yes, there are a number of people on this forum living with a range of aortic conditions (including me).

That said, I can understand your concern about this seemingly casual reference to what in some circumstances can be a life threatening emergency event. But there is a world of difference between an 'acute' dissection, especially one starting in the higher-pressure regions of the aorta nearer the heart, and a 'chronic' dissection, which may sometimes be silent (i.e. no symptoms), in lower pressure areas.

The way I read what your doctor is saying is that there seems to be a small internal blister on the wall of your lower aorta, which I take to be somewhere towards your legs, which may have been there for years. This could mean that the inner wall of the aorta is fragile in that area and so no medical procedures which could put it at risk should be carried out. In particular, anything which would involve inserting anything in your femoral artery in order to go up the aorta and into other arteries would be dangerous.

I would bank this as a 'win' - a disaster avoided - but certainly it is a signal that your blood pressure and other cardiovascular health risk factors need to be actively managed. Hope that helps, but definitely something to discuss further with your doctors. Maybe they can actually show you the scans?

[GoldfishPond in reply to JulianM]

Thank you for the info. I had a balloon angioplasty in both legs last year and continued to have problems in my left leg hence the most recent scan. It seems my left artery has gone back to 100% blocked an thus they would not want to go back in at the moment due to risk vs benefit. That's when he introduced the new nuget of information.

[JulianM in reply to GoldfishPond]

There is such a thing as an iatrogenic dissection - i.e. damage to the wall of the artery caused accidentally when procedures are carried out - and it sounds like this might be one of the possible explanations for yours. I do hope they come up with an alternative treatment that works for your restricted artery, and soon.

[HeartyJames]

Aorta is definitely ok to talk about. My cardiologist sent me for a scan a couple of years ago due to grandfather and father both having bursts. One survived only to die later. Mine is ok currently. All the best

[Davey77 in reply to HeartyJames]

It needs to be emphasised more that this does run in families. My Uncle's doctor didn't tell him that and, as a result, my mum was being treated for indigestion for years before hers burst. It was the surgeon who treated her that told us we should get checked and by that time she was too old to survive the operation.

When I was given the standard scan at 60 or 65 they said my Aorta was good enough that I should die of something else before mine became a problem.

[smiffy12]

Hi there. I had an aortic dissection which is being medically treated back in January this year. Please have a look at aorticdissectionawareness.org on line. They also have a wonderful Facebook group and to realise that you are not alone with this problem is such a help. The charity has an amazing Patient Guide and the support and advice from them has helped me such a lot as having aorta problems seems a medically grey area.

[GoldfishPond in reply to smiffy12]

Thank you so much smiffy12, I will head on over there later on today.