My 79 Year Old Husband Has Been Diagnosed With A

Posted on Sat, 13 Oct 2018

Question: My 79 year old husband has been diagnosed with a aortic aneurysm. They are taking a wait and see approach with a scan every three months. I am concerned as he now has shortness of breath, low energy a d a persistent cough. Should we get a second opinion from someone other than primary care physician?

Answered by Dr. Dr.Arnab (15 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
shortness of should be evaluated further...

Detailed Answer:
Hello and Welcome to 'Ask A Doctor' service...
I've gone through your query in details...
I can understand your concerns for your husband...

First of all, let me clarify that they're following the standard protocol of treatment in this case.

However, this new onset low energy, shortness of breath and persistent cough may or may not be related to this. It could be due to underlying heart failure or even due to pulmonary edema also.

To evaluate this further, a thorough clinical evaluation along with a series of investigations (Hemogram, LFT, KFT, ECG, 2D-Echocardiogram, NT pro-BNP, Chest X-ray) should be done.

So, yes, you should get another opinion (preferably from a Cardiologist) in this scenario.

Let me know if I can assist you further.

Take Care
Kind Regards

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee