![\"Drawing](\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/aortic-aneurysm-example.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHealth professionals often describe an aortic aneurysm as a \u201csilent killer\u201d since it often doesn\u2019t cause patients pain or adverse symptoms and is frequently found by chance during an imaging test for a different problem. Once the aneurysm is diagnosed, however, patients don\u2019t see it as a \u201csilent killer\u201d and instead typically describe it as a \u201cticking time bomb\u201d inside of their chest. That\u2019s because an aortic aneurysm, without proper surveillance, can either rupture or cause a dissection, both of which are life-threatening situations.<\/p>\n
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Northwestern Medicine\u2019s patient education guide<\/a> about cardiac surgery for aortic aneurysms explains that an aneurysm develops when the aortic wall weakens, creating a bulge at the weakest spot. The bulge starts small, but over time, pressure from blood pumping out of the heart causes the aneurysm to grow. Surgeons usually require surgery once an aneurysm is greater than 5.5 centimeters. In the presence of a bicuspid aortic valve, however, the criteria is 5 centimeters, and in genetic disorders like Marfan\u2019s Syndrome, the requirement for surgery is 4.5 centimeters.<\/p>\n Several types of surgery can be performed to repair an aortic root aneurysm, including aortic valve and root replacement or valve-sparing aortic root repair. Both surgeries often require an open heart procedure which often leads patients to wonder about the possibility of minimally-invasive techniques for aneurysm treatment.\u00a0 To this point, we received a patient question from Jeff who asked, \u201cHas there been any progress made on fixing aortic aneurysms via catheter? I heard there may be a method where a material is inserted in the aorta at the aneurysm site to keep the aneurysm from expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n To learn the answer to Jeff’s question, we met with Dr. Chris Malaisrie<\/a> while attending the Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Dr. Malaisrie is a leading aortic valve and aneurysm specialist at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, who has successfully treated many patients in our community.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/profileImages\/312_129_151.jpg\")
<\/a>Dr. Chris Malaisrie<\/a><\/p>\n