Multidisciplinary Aortic Center Hosts Inaugural Aortic Dissection and Aneurysm Awareness Day

The Stony Brook Medicine Multidisciplinary Aortic Center (MAC) recently hosted its first Aortic Dissection and Aneurysm Awareness Day at the Charles B. Wang Center, offering attendees expert talks by leading aortic disease physicians, patient testimonials and experiences shared by invited survivors, and screening stations offering vascular ultrasound/AAA screenings.

Featured speakers included Rabih Chaer, MD, MS, visiting professor of surgery and chief, Stony Brook Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery; Jonathan Price, MD, assistant professor of surgery, Stony Brook Medicine Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery; Apostolos Tassiopoulos, MD, FACS, professor of surgery, Stony Brook Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery and chair, Stony Brook Department of Surgery; Joseph Franco, DO, assistant professor of surgery, Cardiovascular and Lifestyle Medicine; and Ben Youdelman, MD, director of Thoracic Aortic Surgery/co-director Maimonides Aortic Center, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY. They were joined by aortic disease survivors Robert Glass, board member for Think Aorta US, and Stony Brook patients Demir Aksehirli and Howard Kanowitz.

Drs. Chaer and Youdelman, along with Robert Glass, opened the event with a welcome message and introductory presentations. Glass shared how the discovery of a growing aneurysm in 2015, and a CT scan that showed it had increased in size by 2019, set him on the path to seek help and to get the rest of his family tested, which revealed his father had a previously unknown small aneurysm. Spurred on by that experience, Glass became involved with Think Aorta, which works to provide worldwide education about aortic disease.

"I am thrilled and grateful we are able to reach out to the public and medical community to increase the awareness about aortic diseases," said Dr. Chaer. "The patient testimonials at the Stony Brook inaugural Aortic Awareness Day were invaluable and stress the importance of multidisciplinary lifelong care of patients with aortic aneurysm and dissection."

The MAC was designed to provide comprehensive care for patients with aortic diseases such as aneurysms and dissections. Treatment at the MAC typically involves a team of specialists, including cardiologists, vascular surgeons, cardiac surgeons, geneticists and multiple other specialists who collaborate to offer tailored treatment plans and long-term follow-up care.

Read the complete article on the Stony Brook Medicine surgery blog.