Aneurysm Screening
Aneurysm is the medical term for the abnormal expansion of a blood vessel in the body. It is most frequently discovered in the abdomen during investigation for some other condition; the hint on an xray or during a scan for abdominal pain, for example. Aneurysms can affect any artery but the commonest, about 3 in 4, are discovered in the aorta (the bodies main blood vessel) particularly in the abdomen (an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, AAA).
The risk of an aneurysm increases as it gets bigger. As it gets bigger the wall of the blood vessel gets weaker until eventually it leaks, or ruptures, or splits. This is usually fatal. Alternatively, a clot can form in the aneurysm and can dislodge to block a blood vessel further along the body. This is more usually seen with aneurysms affecting smaller blood vessels, in the groin or behind the knee for example.
Aneurysms can be effectively and safely treated when they are found before they develop problems, and before they get too large. For the majority of people, repairing an aneurysm only requires a night, perhaps two, in hospital after an operation. For others it requires a larger, more risky, procedure that needs intensive monitoring and a week or so of post-operative recovery. By contrast, an emergency operation, if successful at all, frequently requires weeks or months of recovery and rehabilitation.
It is because of the success and relative low risk of treatment of aneurysm, that screening programs have been introduced and state funded in some countries. The USA, UK and Sweden all perform population screening to detect and treat those at risk of death from aneurysm rupture. Screening is recommended particularly for men in late middle age (60-65), and particularly those that have smoked for any period. Women appear to have less aneurysms, but the frequency may be higher as smoking has become more common amongst women over the last few decades. In New Zealand there is no aneurysm screening although it is likely that aneurysm disease is more common than in some other western societies.
Screening entails risk assessment, clinical examination and a one-off scan of at-risk vessels. The results are discussed and advice given on what further action, if any, is recommended.
The risk of an aneurysm increases as it gets bigger. As it gets bigger the wall of the blood vessel gets weaker until eventually it leaks, or ruptures, or splits. This is usually fatal. Alternatively, a clot can form in the aneurysm and can dislodge to block a blood vessel further along the body. This is more usually seen with aneurysms affecting smaller blood vessels, in the groin or behind the knee for example.
Aneurysms can be effectively and safely treated when they are found before they develop problems, and before they get too large. For the majority of people, repairing an aneurysm only requires a night, perhaps two, in hospital after an operation. For others it requires a larger, more risky, procedure that needs intensive monitoring and a week or so of post-operative recovery. By contrast, an emergency operation, if successful at all, frequently requires weeks or months of recovery and rehabilitation.
It is because of the success and relative low risk of treatment of aneurysm, that screening programs have been introduced and state funded in some countries. The USA, UK and Sweden all perform population screening to detect and treat those at risk of death from aneurysm rupture. Screening is recommended particularly for men in late middle age (60-65), and particularly those that have smoked for any period. Women appear to have less aneurysms, but the frequency may be higher as smoking has become more common amongst women over the last few decades. In New Zealand there is no aneurysm screening although it is likely that aneurysm disease is more common than in some other western societies.
Screening entails risk assessment, clinical examination and a one-off scan of at-risk vessels. The results are discussed and advice given on what further action, if any, is recommended.
Are you at Risk?If you are over 50 years of age and answer yes to 3 or more of these, you may benefit from a screening appointment:
Male Over 60 Current or Ex-Smoker Heart Disease High Blood Pressure Maori origin Family history of aneurysm |
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