Different results on CT scan and echocardiogram
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Hi,
Recently I got diagnosed with a 4.2cm aortic aneurysm on an echo. I didn't get too much further information on this and apart from this my heart is normnal. I started suffering from an anxiety disorder due to worrying about my heart and rang NHS 111 as my whole legs had suddenly gone numb. This is apparently a sign of an aneurysm growing according to the paramedics which led me to mentally prepare myself for surgery. The NHS were absolutely fantastic it must be said and treated me very well
However at the end of my hospital stay they did a CT scan and told me I only have a 3.2cm aorta which is obviously much better. It says all aspects of the aorta are normal?
What does this mean? I have something somewhere in the middle!? Or the ehco is wrong? Or the CT is wrong?
Thank you
0 likes, 5 replies
derek76 sean31343
Posted
Presumably the numbness has gone and was due to anxiety?
The usual rule is not to operate until 5.5cm when the danger of the aneurysm busting is greater than the danger of the operation.
My one was 3.1cm when found during a ultrasound scan.in 2004. Scans are said to be 10% plus or minus in accuracy. Last year my ultrasounds were 3.4 and 3.6 but a CT showed it as 3.9cm and last month the ultrasound showed it as 4.0cm.
Take your pick.
sean31343 derek76
Posted
Thank you for your reply Derek. Yea the numbness has gone but I still have burning in my back.
That's quite a variety in measurements. How are you dealing with it? Anything you can and can't do?
Mine is in my aortic root and I'm only 29. I know I'm being anxious but I have a fear because it's there they missed it on the CT. surgery there is probably the worst one so I'm taking it really badly
Sean
derek76 sean31343
Posted
As you see from 2004 till now it has been very slow growing but with bit of a spurt in the last year.
I needed to see an osteopath for my back and showed her my CT scan disk and the report. She would not treat me in case she burst it! I later spoke to another osteopath at the same practice and he did not see a problem but wrote to the consultant with his treatment plan. The consultant said it was OK to treat me but it is since then that the growth shown on the ultrasound scan has happened.
I wrote to the consultant to see if I can continue with the osteopath and have an appointment to see him but not for a while yet.
I've have never worried about it as it has been slow growing and as I was 70 in 2004 I thought that it will outlive me,
There is one massive problem... travel insurance. As soon as you mention it they give you a massive quote or refuse you. They work from a tick list and size does not come into it with them. I used a company who excluded it from the cover. One actually wanted £2K for a month in America so I then asked about a month in Cuba and that was only £1K.
When I told the person doing my next scan she laughed and said if it suddenly went it would not cost them much just the ambulance to take me to the mortuary.I did once look at a house a few hundred yards away from a major hospital. I later thought that we should have bought it:-)
sean31343 derek76
Posted
Derek you've done well if you're now 83?!
I've been researching a lot online to get answers and unfortunately as my aneurysm is located at the root the ct is less reliable than the echo.
At such a young age I won't outlive my aneurysm...
All the best Derek
derek76 sean31343
Posted