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Your doctor will diagnose Marfan syndrome based on your medical and family history, a physical exam, and test results. No single test can diagnose Marfan syndrome, so doctors use a set of guidelines called the Ghent criteria to help. The Ghent criteria include whether the diameter of your aorta is larger than normal, whether your eye lens has ever moved out of place, whether you have certain physical signs of Marfan syndrome, and sometimes genetic testing.

Adopting a healthy lifestyle, along with ongoing care and emotional support, may help you prevent or delay atherosclerosis and the problems it can cause.

Although the exact cause of atherosclerosis isn't known, studies show that atherosclerosis is a slow, complex disease that may start in childhood. It develops faster as you age.

Atherosclerosis usually doesn't cause signs and symptoms until it severely narrows or totally blocks a coronary, carotid, peripheral, or renal artery. Many people don't know they have the disease until they have a medical emergency, such as a heart attack or stroke.

High blood pressure is a common disease in which blood flows through blood vessels (arteries) at higher than normal pressures.

Holter and event monitors are small, portable electrocardiogram devices that record your heart’s electrical activity for long periods of time while you do your normal activities. These monitors can record how fast your heart is beating, whether the rhythm of your heartbeats is steady or irregular, and the strength and timing of the electrical impulses passing through each part of your heart.

A cardiac MRI is a painless imaging test that uses radio waves, magnets, and a computer to create detailed pictures of your heart.

A cough is your body’s natural reflex to help clear your airways of irritants and prevent infection.

Heart transplant is surgery that removes a diseased heart and replaces it with a healthy heart from a deceased donor to improve your quality of life and increase your lifespan. Most heart transplants are done on patients who have end-stage heart failure, a condition in which your heart is severely damaged or weakened, and on people who have failed other treatment options.

Fanconi anemia is an inherited disease caused by mutations in certain genes, known as FA genes. These genes provide instructions to help the body repair certain types of DNA damage. The cells of healthy people often repair DNA damage, but cells affected by Fanconi anemia cannot make these repairs. In people who have Fanconi anemia, certain cells may die or stop working properly.