Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Kills 3,000 Men Annually

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), which can cause one of the body's main blood vessels to burst, is the third most common cause of death among older men. Men are six times more likely to have an aneurysm than women. If detected early enough, the condition can be corrected by surgery.

The abdominal aorta carries blood to the intestines and other organs nearby and if an aneurysm occurs in this area it can be fatal, with most patients dying before they get to emergency care.

Over the next five years, ultrasound scan screening will be rolled out across 60 centres to cover all men aged 65 and over. The Department of Health says this will save 700 lives a year within 10 years.

This is the NHS's first men-only screening programme. AAA kills over 3,000 men a year - roughly twice as many deaths as cervical cancer for women, which has its own screening programme.

Jonothan Earnshaw, honorary secretary of the Vascular Society, which represents specialists in this area, said: "We welcome the announcement of an abdominal aortic aneurysm screening programme and look forward to working with the government.

"Key to success will be funding to train technicians to undertake the scans and for the organisational infrastructure of the scheme. We await further information on this."

Health Secretary Alan Johnson, announcing the programme said: "The NHS has been particularly effective at diagnosing and treating established diseases. Doctors and scientists now tell us that we should be looking at how to stop disease taking hold in the first place.

"That means all of us taking more responsibility but being helped to do this by the NHS, through earlier and better information on our conditions and in some cases a different relationship with healthcare professionals as adviser as well as doctor.

"This 'predict and prevent' approach offers significant gains in areas like vascular disease. A major cause of poor health is a group of related conditions that we know are preventable - heart attacks, strokes, diabetes.

"Successful prevention would mean significantly fewer early deaths, less long-term ill-health, and a reduction in health inequalities. We are doing a lot of research to assess the potential cost-effectiveness of a 'predict and prevent' approach.

"In the meantime, there are immediate steps we can take. For example, we know that abdominal aortic aneurysm is a serious condition - internal bleeding from ruptured blood vessels in the stomach that threaten the lives of older men.

"We now have evidence that this can be detected by ultrasound screening, and corrected by surgery. So we are looking to introduce a national screening programme. About £3 million was set aside in the comprehensive spending review to set up a handful of pilot projects this year.

"Within five years, we expect to have 60 centres operational around the country, covering all 270,000 men aged 65. We estimate this programme will save 700 lives a year within 10 years by giving patients and clinicians much earlier information."

Further info on what exactly Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm is can be found here

Source: BBC News On-line / Liverpool Daily Post

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