Hi.

My son just had an echo that showed that his aortic aneurysm had grown a bit since the last time.  It is now at 3.8cm.  He is 188cm tall and 70.4 kg - which results in a z-score of 3.1    Because of this, the doc said to pull him out of his sports.  (he is 12 yrs old)

I'm ok with that, I don't want my son to be a statistic, but I'm trying to figure out the risks he would take if he stayed on his volleyball team for the rest of the season (march 31).    As of yesterday, we stopped having him play basketball.  So, that alone has drastically reduced the amount of pressure on his heart - but I'm not sure its enough to still allow him to finish his volleyball season.  Even if we DO allow him to finish the volleyball season, his participation is going to be changed to lessen his exposure.  I'm not stupid,  I know that simply telling a 12 year old kid to slow down and not hit so hard isn't going to guarantee that he will.

I  guess I have a few questions - and I have asked my doc, but unfortunately, he is out at a conference right now.  I know he will get back to me, I'm just curious on other's thoughts/experiences.

Some questions:

What specifically is the concern with competitive sports?   I understand that it puts more stress on the aneurism.  What I wonder is… is the stress cummulative or not, that is, if the child does something for 5 minutes rather than 50, is the risk the same, or less?

I know that dissection and rupture are the "risk", what I don't know is what is the probability of that happening with a z-score of 3.1 or a measurement of 3.8cm?  Is there any data on when dissection or rupture is likely to happen?

If anyone has any insight for me, I'm willing to listen. After watching my son cry his eyes out at the thought of quitting mid-season, my maternal instinct is to allow him to play, but I certainly don't want to open him up to undue risk, and I'm very unclear of the risk at this time.   

Thanks

Julie

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