Aortic Stability and Chronicity

Let’s talk about chronicity (something that lasts long-term) and aortic stability. That is, how long has an aneurysm been stable in watch and wait without changing, or how long has a medically managed dissection remained unchanged.

The answer can help determine your safe exercise exertion level. With the exception of genetic disorders, the more time an aneurysm remains stable as shown by regular scans (also known as “watchful waiting”), the more likely a sports cardiologist would entertain higher levels of exertion.

Recently in our YouTube interview, Dr. Frank Caputo, head of vascular surgery at Cleveland Clinic, gave the example of a five-mile-a-day runner with a medically managed descending dissection that has been stable for ten years. In that case, he’d say to keep running.

As a similar example, former pro Ironman and new Aortic Athlete Torbjorn Sindballe shared that he was in watch and wait for fifteen years before he had his recent OHS aneurysm and bicuspid repair!

And our own Admin Carmen David has had ten years of stability post descending aortic dissection as shown by regular scans, allowing her to continue the exercise she’s been doing for years.

But we can expect a cardiologist to be more conservative about exercise for a newly diagnosed person with a 4.9 cm aneurysm scheduled for a scan in six months’ time, or a person who has recently dissected.

So, as usual, it’s complicated. And individual. This is why at Aortic Athletes, our first advice is always: check with your cardiologist!

And why, although we can share our experiences, we can’t give medical advice to one another because, in part, we all have different lengths of time that we have — or have not — been stable.

Penn Medicine – Can you live with an aortic aneurysm?

Mass General Bringham – Living with aortic aneurysm