Chief Surgeon at Southampton General Hospital says men over 65 could significantly reduce their risk of premature death if they had a 10-minute ultrasound scan.

Dr Gareth Morris, one of Southampton's leading consultants in vascular surgery, is confident that a simple 10-minute ultrasound scan would help diagnose or rule out abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) in thousands of men.. But the ABA is responsible for 5,000 deaths annually in England and Wales alone..

This condition, which develops when the aortic wall weakens and stretches, can be effectively controlled with regular monitoring and, if necessary, can be treated surgically.. The trouble is that large aneurysms (5.5 cm or more) not detected in time can rupture, which in most cases leads to death..

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

He explains: “We have a huge number of deaths that could have been avoided.. This is a real tragedy, because we are able to save these lives with a quick scan and timely intervention.. But time is everything. The condition is often asymptomatic, so I strongly recommend that men get screened. It's a simple scan, similar to what pregnant women at risk get."

Men are 6 times more likely to develop an abdominal aortic aneurysm than women.. At the same time, smokers (including quitters), hypertensive patients and people with a burdened family history are most at risk..

AAA screening program launched nationally last week, but AAA Screening is in its second year in some counties. The program is supported by the University Hospital of Southampton..

More than 8,000 men in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight underwent ultrasound scans last year. As a result, 18 of them were sent for surgical treatment, as they had aneurysms larger than 5.5 cm in diameter..

Justin Sanders, local AAA Screening program coordinator, said: “In the past year, men have responded very well to our offers to get scanned.. But there are still a lot of people in our region whom we would like to see in our examination.”.

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