my mom

[bridge1975]

my mother has been diagnosed with a calcified aortic arch. Can someone tell me something about this and if it is going to be able to be fixed?

[mammo]

It's crucial that this calcification does not narrow the artery to any extent to cause blockage, which would result in organ damage, heart attack, and stroke.  It is an indication of heart disease.  The first procedure done should the artery narrow is called Endarterectomy, also Angioplasty with stenting to strengthen the walls of the treated artery.  I suspect your mother has Atherosclerosis, which means plaque is building in other areas of the body in her arteries.  Lowering cholesterol helps, also a healthy diet that includes a lot of fish, no fried greasy foods.  Calcification can cause the walls of the artery to harden also.  The aortic arch is not the same as aortic valve.  She needs to follow her doctor's orders as he is the expert.

[kenkeith]

It is not unusual to have some calcification of the aorta valve and vessel as one ages as well as other vessels.  When serious is can raise the blood pressure, enlarge the heart chambers, etc.  

For some insight, until recently, aortic calcification was thought to be a relatively harmless condition. But research published in 2007 indicates that aortic calcification may be an early sign that you already have heart disease, even if you don't have any heart disease symptoms.

Aortic calcification, also called aortic sclerosis, is a buildup of calcium deposits on the aortic valve in the heart. This often results in a heart murmur, which can easily be heard with a stethoscope over the heart. However, aortic calcification usually doesn't significantly affect the function of the aortic valve

There's no specific treatment for aortic calcification, but it does require monitoring for further developments of heart disease. It's important to have your cholesterol checked, because you may need medications to lower cholesterol and help prevent progression of aortic calcification. If the valve becomes severely narrowed, aortic valve replacement surgery may be necessary.

[mammo]

This is where plaque has built up in this area and is blocking blood flow.  There are several things they can do, angioplasty, where they go in thru her thigh and insert a balloon and inflate it in the blockage to open the artery.  They also have an instrument that can break-up the plaque, done the same way, or they can operate to clean it out, or replace the arteries with good ones from her legs.  It can be fixed, and it is done routinely these days.  My husband is having his third Angioplasty on Monday.