Aortic Aneurysm - Losartan study on mice shown to reverse size of aneurysms???

[Shidaddy]

Hi. I have two questions:

1) Do I need surgery soon?

I have recently been diagnosed with an aneurysm of my aortic root of 4.8cm and also my ascending aorta of 4.9cm. My aortic valve is trileaflet and still in good shape. My ascending aorta is 1.9 x the diameter of my descending aorta.

- I'm a 41 year old male
- 6'2" and 210 Lbs.
- I'm athletic (or I was before my diagnois)
- I do NOT have marfans syndrome, but apparently a connective tissue disorder.
- I have a history of "massive heart attacks" on my mothers side (no autopsies were done)
- I feel fine. If it wasn't for the CT scan findings I would not realize there is an issue.


2) Cozaar/Losartan: Is there a chance that I can avoid surgery by taking Cozaar. If so, how much should I take each day?

I just read about a study on mice with marfan syndrome. Apparently, their aneurismal aorta

[sasquatchbreath]

Should I be worried or am I making something of nothing?

[sasquatchbreath]

Glad I found this.

41 years old.
6' 1"
Went from 200lbs to 280 pounds since dialaiton was found (5 year timeframe).
Was an avid cyclist (competitive) until this happened then I became depressed and quit doing much of anything.  No longer depressed and have hired a personal trainer.  Down to 260.....  worried though because it is mostly weights.

Dilation found by chance about 5 years ago.  Valve is fine.  Any surgery would spare valve.   Remained stable at 4.1 CM measured yearly until last year when it grew to 4.6 (worried because that is the period after beginning weight training).  We now measure it every six months, the first of which will be this friday.

In the meantime my doc put me on cozaar 50mg 6 months ago.   We shall see what happened because measurment and doc appointment happen at same time this friday.  I'm scared to death because my gut says surgery is in my future.

[phala]

hi, all
i have Aortic Aneurysm about. 6.cm
any drug or Losartan  can help me
thanks

[talmans]

i'm in the exact same situation as shiddady and nick.  I'm 44,, 6', 220 lbs, my aortic root is ~4.3cm and I'm on 80 mg of valsartan.  The interesting part was that a year ago my aortic root was measured at 4.8 by echo and I was talking to surgeons.

We did an MRI and it measured 4.2. The echo has about a .2 margin for error.  An echo last week measured the aortic root at about 4.3 or 4.4.  My point is to get an MRI to baseline it first and then once every year or two just to check it.

I watched it grow .2 about every two years since it '92, it was 3.9 then.  Don't worry about about a .1 or .2 change it's not that accurate.

I'm also hoping to see it shrink but who knows. I figure I have 7 to 10 years to see but who knows about that too.  

not sure if you'll read this since you posted a year ago.

[pbanders]

Hope the drug works for you. I had a 5.0 cm aneurysm of the ascending aorta, very similar to yours, normal valve, only the ascending aorta, etc. I'm male, 48, 160 lbs, athletic, non-Marfan's. I had surgery in early '04. I was back on my bicycle in 6 weeks, it took about 6 months for me to feel really recovered, and a year before my sleep was back to normal. Today, I ride about 160 miles per week at a fairly high intensity level (I used to race competitively). The only thing I don't do is lift very heavy weights. Otherwise, no problems. I take a low dose (75 mg daily) of metoprolol, a beta blocker. It cuts my aerobic capacity by about 10%, you get used to it.

If you do get to where you need surgery, make certain you go with a highly experienced surgeon who has done hundreds of aortic repairs. Cleveland Clinc has a great reputation. I had my surgery done by Dr. Vincent Gaudiani in California, he's done hundreds of such operations. I had a mini-sternotomy (only 4" near-invisible scar), and was on pump for only 25 minutes. Don't get someone who has only done a few of these!

[nickppatel]

PS - the surgery IS scary, but if done by an experienced surgeon, the success rate is extraordinarily high, and the life expectancy is basically normal. Many of the post-operative deaths you hear about are folks that are already dissecting/rupturing, the elderly, or those already in some sort of bad heart shape. If you're generally healthy and you go to a good surgeon, there is nothing to fear!