The chief surgeon at the Southampton Common Hospital says that men over the age of 65 could significantly reduce the risk of premature death if they underwent a 10-minute ultrasound scan.

Dr. Gareth Morris, one of Southampton's leading advisors in vascular surgery, is confident that a simple 10-minute ultrasound scan would help diagnose or exclude abdominal aortic aneurysm (ABA) aneurysms in thousands of men. And after all, the ABA is responsible for 5 000 deaths annually only in England and Wales.

This condition, which develops when the aortic wall is weakened and stretched, can be effectively controlled under the condition of regular monitoring, and if necessary, can be treated surgically. The trouble is that in time not detected large aneurysms (5.5 cm and more) can be ruptured, which in most cases leads to a lethal outcome.

Dr. Morris says that the UK has developed an ABA screening program that could halve the current mortality rate. Dr. Morris, by the way, was one of the creators of this program.

He explains: "We register a huge number of deaths that could be avoided. This is a real tragedy, because we are able, with the help of rapid scanning and timely intervention, to save these lives. But time is all. The condition is often asymptomatic, so I strongly recommend that men undergo a screening test. It's a simple scan, similar to the one that pregnant women in a high-risk group are going through ».

In men, the probability of an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta is 6 times higher than in women. In this case, smokers (including those who dropped out), hypertensive patients and persons with a burdened family history are most at risk.

The ABA national screening program was launched last week, but in some counties the AAA Screening program has been in operation for the second year. The program is supported by the University Hospital of Southampton.

In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, over 8,000 men underwent ultrasound scanning last year. As a result, 18 of them were sent for surgical treatment, since they detected aneurysms more than 5.5 cm in diameter.

Coordinator of the local AAA Screening program Justin Sanders said: "Last year, men were very eager to respond to our proposals to undergo a scan. But in our region there are still a lot of people that we would like to see in our study ".

Now in the UK, men who are 65 years old on 1 April 2013 will automatically be invited for screening if they did not pass it before. This initiative will help save thousands of people annually.

medbe. en.

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