March 27, 2025Journal of the American Heart Association14 citationsOpen Access
View Full PaperThoracic Aortic Aneurysm Growth Rates and Predicting Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Key Result
Ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms typically grow at 0.25 to 1 mm/y across all pathogeneses, suggesting that annual surveillance is likely too frequent to detect growth in most patients.
Structured PICO
What is the typical growth rate of ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms and what factors predict it?
P
Population
Patients with ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs)
O
Outcome
Aortic growth ratesurrogate
Ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms grow slowly at 0.25 to 1 mm/year, suggesting that annual imaging surveillance may be unnecessarily frequent for most patients.
Main Result
Absolute Event Rate: 0% vs 0%
Abstract
Considering all pathogeneses, ascending TAAs typically grow at 0.25 to 1 mm/y, and thus annual surveillance is likely too frequent to detect growth in most patients. Studies vary widely in populations, methodology, and outcomes, with few high-quality longitudinal studies and no predictors of aortic GR.