confused

[lynisa48]

Hi all last year diagnosed with CAC this year sinus tachycardia and now last week Aortic Aneurysm I’ve been put on Bisopral aspirin was already on statins for Tachycardia had echo and stress test last march for CAC but no advice going forward, I suffer very badly from gerd getting very bad chest pain so ended up in A&E who arranged appointment for rapid chest pain clinic no tests asked if I thought I had angina then talked about enlarged aorta (showed on old chest ct) said nothing to worry about happens as we get older don’t need to see you again looked at British Heart Foundations Webb site and found out enlarged aorta was Aneurysm

Is this the norm no check ups for CAC or Aneurysm not making sense to me hopefully someone can advise

[Happyrosie]

ive just looked up abdominal aortic aneurysm (assuming that’s what this is) on the NHS app to see what they say : “You usually need regular scans to see if it’s getting bigger”. I think in your position I’d like to talk it over with my doctor.

[lynisa48 in reply to Happyrosie]

I have no idea if it’s abdominal or thoracic as he didn’t say but I did call British heart foundation and they were helpful but until consultant rights to doctor I’m in the dark and what annoys me is someone might not have queried what he was telling them and ct he was looking at was at least a year old so likely it’s got bigger and why had it been missed

[Cliff_G]

Lynisa,

From the fact that your aneurysm was found on an old chest CT, it's almost certainly a thoracic aneurysm.

The advice you've been given is, frankly, plain wrong. They should be working out a monitoring schedule for you based in part on the size of the aneurysm. You're right that they need also to consider possible growth between your old CT and now.

It's maybe true that there's nothing to worry about immediately, but there are established guidelines around monitoring thoracic aneurysms. The best you can do is to learn as much as you can about aortic aneurysms (where you're already on the right track) and ask questions of your doctors. It may be you need to see someone else. My recommendation is always to go and see someone at a specialist aortic centre. Liverpool, Papworth, Bristol, Southampton, Barts, and a few others (where do you live?)

The difficulty may be in convincing your doctors this is what is needed. Have a look at the latest 2024 EACTS guideline linked at aorticdissectionawareness.o... and if necessary show your GP the relevant page(s).

Don't be too worried, but do be proactive. Best wishes.

[lynisa48 in reply to Cliff_G]

Thank you so much for your reply waiting for letter from consultant then seeing gp next Wednesday

[Cliff_G in reply to lynisa48]

Great. The most basic info you need is where is the aneurysm, and how big is it (cm diameter). Good luck.

[lynisa48 in reply to Cliff_G]

Thank you