On this last day of September 2020, where are we in terms of awareness of aortic disease in the chest, both for the public and for medical professionals?
Are We Still Learning "the Hard Way"?
Once the aorta threatens or takes away someone's life there is painful "awareness". It is a "hard way" to learn about a potentially deadly condition. For physicians, missed or delayed diagnoses and possibly loss of a patient are also learning "the hard way"; that is, if the diseased aorta is actually ever discovered at all. It is possible, in the absence of autopsies, that deaths due to aortic disease in the chest remain hidden, uncounted.
Would it Be Different Today?
At the time Michael Kirk went to the ER with symptoms, he was a cardiac intensive care nurse at that very hospital. No one thought of his aorta, although over an agonizing 68 hours, they thought of many other things, including anxiety! The medical team ultimately learned from Michael, and he survived the crisis. Michael shared his experience with BAF here. Thinking of Michael's experience, would it be better in 2020? Would his family members, assumed to have died suddenly of "heart disease" be checked for aortic disease today?
In 2020, Someone Still Needs to Think of the Aorta in the ER
There is a marker in the blood, troponin, that indicates heart muscle injury (typically signs of a heart attack) that appears to be broadly understood and used. There is no simple equivalent for the aorta today. Currently, someone needs to think of the aorta, to rule it in or out with imaging, as one of the major killers in the chest.
However, a paper published in July 2020 offers hope for additional diagnostic help in the future. Imaging and Biomarkers in Acute Aortic Syndromes: Diagnostic and Prognostic Implications : "It is expected, in the near future, the development of serologic and imaging biomarkers able to early detect clinically-silent pathologic changes in the aorta wall before (primary prevention) and after (secondary prevention) the acute index event."
Richard Houchin, whose aorta dissected in 2004, remembers hearing someone say "aorta" while in the ER, and thinking fuzzily, what is my aorta? Richard had a number of things "go right" that day, beginning with the paramedics who thought of his aorta, despite instructions from a major medical center to treat him as a heart attack victim.
When it is not a heart attack, we can help physicians think of the aorta in the chest by bringing it up to them.
In 2020, Someone Needs to Care for Aortic Dissections Survivors
An article published this September has this poignant title:
Am I going to die now? Experiences of hospitalisation and subsequent life after being diagnosed with aortic dissection
The full article is not freely available to the public. However, as the abstract indicates, this is an effort to understand and improve the experience of those who survive aortic dissection.
In 2020, Someone Needs Answers and Support When Thoracic Aortic Disease Causes Sudden Death
There are no words to describe the devastation left behind among the living who suddenly lose a loved one.
How many times is aortic disease in the chest the actual culprit, not a "heart attack"?
Amy's family had the courage and resources to arrange for a private autopsy, which unmasked the undiagnosed BAV and diseased aorta that abruptly took her life. Here is Amy's story.
In 2020, Focus is Still Needed on the Aorta, Not Just the Heart
For those with BAV, they may only be told about their aortic valve and heart. I recently spoke to the mother of a wonderful, active boy, age 14. While hospitalized at a major medical center for another reason, the presence of a bicuspid aortic valve was discovered. The initial information given was not overly concerning. When following up with a local cardiologist later, however, this boy and his parents were shocked to be told that his aorta was enlarged, and his physical activity should be limited.
How could that be possible? His aorta had not even been mentioned, and all of a sudden, it is an issue important enough to restrict his sports participation? This is devastating to anyone, let alone an active, strong teenager.
It was not easy in my own family when a large ascending aortic aneurysm was "discovered", years after being told all was safely fixed following BAV replacement surgery. Later we learned the aorta was already enlarged at the time of the BAV replacement and had quietly continued to grow!
No, it is not easy to work through the emotions and lifestyle changes that may follow abruptly learning about an enlarged/aneurysmal aorta. Acceptance of physical restrictions and lifechanging adjustments are not trivial for those whose bodies are seemingly so healthy, often naturally gifted athletes who are typically involved in numerous activities and sports.
Parents, families, and each one with BAV deserve compassionately shared accurate information about their aorta along with their BAV/heart, ultimately enabling them to live with confidence, supported by their medical care team.
The following paper published in 2020 provides international information from multiple medical centers, regarding 2,122 BAV children; half of them had an enlarged aorta. Their average age was 10.2 years.
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