Question! How common are aortic dissections in the general population? Are they more common in men or women? If someone presents with chest pain, slight shortness of breath, and palpitations would this warrant further testing? Blood levels for trop, d-dimer, CBC all normal. Is this something that is common in a younger population and who is at risk? What are the symptoms of this and how severe are they?

Also, would an ECG and chest X-ray give light to the diagnosis of this as well?

Curiosity!

Nursing student

My dad (58M) was rushed to the hospital for emergency open-heart surgery due to a type A aortic dissection about a week and a half ago. Happy to share he is on the mend and feeling better every day! Unfortunately, he is now convinced that getting his vaccine is what did him in.

He's a conservative-leaning guy but likes to think of himself as rational and logical. So I really cannot understand the irrationality behind his current thinking. Basically:

1. In 2019 he had some sort of scan that showed all of his organs were healthy/functioning well.
2. He got the Pfizer vaccine in April of this year.
3. He says that "ever since he got the vaccine" he gets random pains in that left arm.
4. "All of a sudden" now in November he has this crazy medical emergency, even though no one else in his family had heart disease.
5. Thus, the vaccine is what caused this emergency.

Ok, here's some context that's missing from his narrative:

1. He works a high-stress labor job and has been working 60+ hours a week on average throughout the pandemic.
2. He literally has high blood pressure and high cholesterol. He is 5 ft 5, probably 175 lbs.
3. He doesn't actually eat that healthy and hasn't gone to the doctor since that 2019 scan.
4. Both of his parents and one of his siblings are dead, all 3 from serious health conditions, albeit not heart disease.
5. His girlfriend, his ex-girlfriend, almost of his friends, and living family are antivax/dabble in all sorts of right wing conspiracies.

I know this is probably in vain, and I understand his brain is building a narrative to cope with the trauma of what's happened, but I am so afraid that he's going to put himself in harm's way by suddenly becoming anti-vax. He is starting to go down a rabbit hole on Youtube and has lots of people in his life egging this on. Despite being the only educated person he really knows, he does not seem to hold my word in very high regard (probably because I've been indoctrinated by Big University or something).

So for my own peace, and maybe an ability to reason with him, what causes an aortic dissection? How can one prove it has literally nothing to do with an inoculation you received 6 months ago?

TLDR; My dad thinks his aortic dissection is due to him getting the vaccine. How can one explain that this is an unreasonable theory?

EDIT: I don’t think conservative people aren’t rational human beings. I simply meant that he has not been part of the bigger conservative anti-mask anti-vax movement in

Would someone please explain how increasing the afterload decreases AS murmur intensity? Thanks!

Can your Aortic Root Decrease in size?

This is probably a stupid question! But my fiancé was diagnosed with BAV when he was a kid. He’s approaching 30 so I’m just starting to worry about him a little more now. He was told he’d probably need surgery in his 30s.

I’m on the hunt for a new cardiologist for him to go to. I want this one to have experience with valve problems so that they know what potential issues to look for, but I don’t know where to look for someone like this. I’m just coming across a bunch of general cardiologists and I don’t know where to go from here. Will most general cardiologists have experience with valve problems like this?

Again, that’s probably a stupid question, but I just want him to have a cardiologist that we can trust and that knows what to look for for his specific problem. I’m so scared of a cardiologist missing something important.

Any other tips about this process is greatly appreciated! Thank you

just wondering if anyone has any experiences to share with using D8-THC (or normal THC) and living with a tissue or mechanical valve.

21F, 5”6 98lbs meds vyvanse (on 6+ months), nexplanon, toradol prn for back pain (work in healthcare so on my feet for 8+hours) All bloodwork has been normal in past Baseline EKG 06/2021 was normal.

Okay weird stuff. I’ve had ‘pre-syncope’ for years but recently it has gotten worse. body goes weak, knees buckle and vision goes black. This is always associated with standing up so vasovagal. Recently I had full on syncope, I lost consciousness and woke up on the floor. I would think it was due to vasovagal however I have ‘amnesia’ of the event occurring, all I remember is being in my bed and waking up on the floor outside of my room. Due to the amnesia my doctor thinks theres potentially something else going on and will be ordering a head CT soon.

However I have family history of bicuspid aortic valve, my aunt has it and her surgeon indicated her family should be tested. I told my doctor and she admitted to not knowing a lot about the condition and asked for more info from my aunt if possible and then she would get me an echo. Issue is all my aunt has is verbal, there’s no paperwork and no genetic testing was done. All she did was make me nervous it could be the cause lol.

I’m a little more worried about it today because at work while opening, I got chest pain, it was dull pain on the bottom left side of my sternum. It occurred when I bear down while exhaling.

Could it be related? I can provide more info if needed

Hello my name is Angela and I'm 43. Back in April I became very sick and went into the hospital on April 20, 2021. The emergency room did every test I can think of and finally said I was septic. BP was 84/54. They admitted me and started me on broad spectrum antibiotics. But I kept getting worse. They were waiting on blood cultures. My labs were not good so I had an echocardiohram, Tee, cardiac cath and found out my aortic valve was completely destroyed and the infection had ate a hole in my heart. But still they had to figure out where infection was commin from. Rewind 3 weeks earlier I had some dental work done. Kept telling dentist my lough hurt and something was not right but he said im.a slow healer and left ot there. Fast forward back to April 26 still in hospital. Oral surgery comes in and says 5 teeth are infected in my gums and I need to have them removed..cardiology said neednto be removed before OHS. April 29 teeth removed and April 30 I had OHS to replace my aortic valve and put a Cardiac patch on the hole in my heart. Infection was so bad I couldn't get a mechanic valve. I have a Inspiris Resilia Valve. 6 months out I still feel tired and have chest pains off and on. When I breath in it hurts sometimes still.

So this is gonna be a long one i hope somebody can help me,

When i was 19 i was training to partake in a powerlifting competition and as many of my friends i too injected testosterone (around 350mg a week) to enhance my lifts. I also took a lot of "pre workout" supplements that contained stimulants as caffeine, taurine and some of them even contained Amphetamines. In a week when i was deadlifting almost every day i hit a new PR with 210kg and immideatly aimed for a Dropset with 10 repetitions with 170kg. When i did these lifts i always used to hold my breath as its common in Powerlifting because you are able to lift more weight. On the 6 or 7 rep i collapsed with severe Pain in my Trap area and my right arm turned blue.

Other People at the gym called an ambulance for me as i was unable to move. In the Hospital they gave me strong pain medication (Morphium) twice so i barely felt any pain. At first the doctors could not find anything so they just said i ripped a muscle and needed some rest so they send me home a day later.

Going out of the Hospital with great pain they just told me to suck it up basically and that this is normal. A few hours later i collapsed again as i was trying to masturbate and beeing close to orgasm the bulge in my artery that builded up when doing the Deadlift (the cause of my first collapse) ruptured and started to bleed inside my lungs. This time i felt the worst pain i have ever felt and was barely conciouss because of all the pain. My brother found me on lying on the floor a few minutes later and called for an ambulance again. This time they gave me really strong medication (dont know what exactly) but i have not felt a thing and even saw gnarfs and all kinds of beeings. After they put me in an MRT they took me to another hospital and made an operation there to put in a stent because my Right arm artery had dissected and ruptered. Woke up in the Hospital with all kind of machinery hanging out of my Shoulder, Lungs etc.

I was devastaded but the doctors told me its my second birthday and that i should be happy about it. Also they hurt an nerve responsible for your vocal cords so from that point on i had an unilateral vocal cord paralysis and had trouble speaking for the next months. Speech therapy helped somewhat but it never got back to normal.

This was the start for my real life as before i was not even living compared to now. It was the catalysator for me to start searching for something more than this physical reality becau

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-021-03058-4

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34846621

Abstract

PURPOSE

The current research is aimed at analyzing the relationship between kidney stone (KS) and abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) and the relationship between KS components and AAC.

METHODS

This is a retrospective, case-control study. Kidney stone formers (KSFs) were treated at the Department of Urology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University for urological calculus disease from January 2014 to January 2020. Matched non-stone formers (non-SFs) were drawn from the same hospital for routine health examination from January 2018 to February 2019. Research-related information was collected and reviewed retrospectively from the hospital's computerized records. AAC were evaluated using available results of computed tomography imaging and abdominal vascular ultrasound. The relationships of AAC between KSFs and non-SFs were compared. The composition of renal calculi was analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometer. KSFs were divided into AAC groups and non-AAC based on AAC. The relationship of the composition of renal calculi between AAC and non-AAC were compared. The independent-sample t test, the chi-squared test and binary logistics regression were performed.

RESULTS

Altogether, 4516 people were included, with 1027 KSFs and 3489 non-SFs. There were no significant differences in the laboratory parameters between KSFs and non-SFs. The association between the presence of AAC and KS was significant in multivariable model 2 [adjusting hypertension, diabetes mellitus, fasting blood glucose, uric acid, serum triglyceride (TG), serum calcium, and urine pH] (OR 5.756, 95% CI 4.616-7.177, p < 0.001). The result of KSFs showed that calcium oxalate calculi (CaOx) was significantly associated with AAC in multivariable model 3 (adjusting age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, drinking history, smoking history, and TG) (OR 1.351, 95% CI 1.002-1.822, p = 0.048).

CONCLUSIONS

The current study pioneered the revelation of the relationship between CaOx and AAC. Through an elimination of the confounding factors, the study demonstrated that KS and AAC were connected.

------------------------------------------ Info ------------------------------------------

Open Access: True

Authors: Bo Li - Yin Tang - Liang Zhou - Xi Jin -

I think Dr Wen is a general surgeon, he’s talking about his lapcholi with Turk a few episodes before

23F, 5 foot 7, 130 pounds, white. I have been diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve since birth. It hasn't been repaired yet, but I see a cardiologist every 1-2 years for follow up. I was thinking of getting a tattoo in the future but was wondering if this was safe with my condition. I used to take an antibiotic before going to the dentist because of the risk of infection, but I understand that the guidelines have changed since then.

Thank you for your help.

.

Hi everyone! I flew to NYC and had the Ross Procedure, ascending aortic aneurysm repair, and a Maze procedure performed by Dr. El-Hamamsy at Mount Sinai. My surgery was a success and per the post-op echo I know have a perfectly functioning heart - which is still crazy to say. Dr. El-Hamamsy is truly an incredible surgeon and a fantastic person. At Mount Sinai I received remarkable care, it is the best hospital I have ever been to and although I may be partial I believe it has to be the best place in the world to have OHS, I cannot imagine how somewhere else could be better. I am currently 3 weeks post op and have had no complications to date. This morning I walked a mile and I am generally feeling great - nowhere remotely close to as bad as I thought I would.

For those of you who are currently planning or waiting - I feel for you, I have been there. I am not going to lie to anyone, open heart surgery is no walk in the park, from the moment you begin planning through recovery.. it's hard. I think the best advice I can offer is to do your research and be sure, 100% positive, that whatever type of valve and the surgeon you choose you are confident is the absolute right choice for YOU so that when you show up on the day of your surgery you can have confidence that you are making the best possible decision and I promise you that will give you a sense of peace. My whole life I have feared surgery and when the day-of came I was ready to roll because I did the research and knew my surgeon was excellent and that my procedure is what I wanted. Recovery is hard enough I cannot imagine dealing with the physical side of recovery and then also being unhappy with my choice. In my opinion it is imperative to speak to at least a few surgeons, do your own research, and to NOT blindly do whatever 1 or 2 surgeons or cardiologist tell you your best option is and go with it just because its the hospital down the street.

For those of you who are scared, sad, anxious, about your upcoming surgery, please remember that's normal and healthy. The day of surgery (really most of your hospital stay) will be a blur and as soon as you wake up your focus and shifts from fear to recovery.

I wish you all the absolute best!!

Feel free to ask me anything. I know I had a lot of weird questions pre-op so fire away!

Any solid mnemonics, anyone?

22f 4’11 height 248 lbs weight non smoker / non drinker

Result on heart echo, what does this mean? Is this abnormal? thanks

My 7 month old German shepherd had an echo yesterday and they said he has severe subvalvular aortic stenosis. The normal pressure gradient across the valve should be 30 they said his was 160. He also has valvular dysplasia and regurgitation across all 4 valves. He will now be taking 50mg of atenolol once a day. Has anyone ever had this with their pup? Will he have a pretty long life? I know every case is different I just would like some advice & to do anything I can for him. I know most likely it will get worse as the pressures will do some damage on the chambers & heart muscle especially his left ventricle. Vet also mentioned he may have fainting spells later on. Thank you in advance

32/m came across that I have a 4.9 cm dilated aortic valve with mild regurgitation. I know they consider surgery at 5.5cm, I guess my question is, how likely will it be that I never see that 5.5cm growth. That it stays at 4.9cm? Can anyone relate to this situation?