Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms in men

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7448.1122

BMJ 2004;328:1122-1124 (8 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7448.1122

Education and debate

Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms in men

J J Earnshaw, consultant surgeon¹, E Shaw, screening programme coordinator¹, M R Whyman, consultant surgeon², K R Poskitt, consultant surgeon², B P Heather, consultant surgeon¹

¹ Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Gloucester GL1 3NN, ² Cheltenham General Hospital, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

Correspondence to: J J Earnshaw Earnshaw@rudford.demon.co.uk

Gloucestershire's screening project shows the potential benefitsof a national programme and how it could be run

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Every year about 6000 men die from a ruptured abdominal aorticaneurysm in England and Wales.¹ Although this represents onlyabout 2% of all deaths in men, the condition is largely preventable.It is also a disease that seems to be increasingly prevalent,at least in Scotland, despite the fact that deaths from otheratherosclerotic conditions are reducing.² This article exploresthe requirements for a national aortic screening programme,using as a model the Gloucestershire aneurysm screening project,which has been running for 13 years.³

Ultrasound screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms fulfilsall the criteria for a population screening programme,^4
5 althoughonly in men.⁶ The recent multicentre aneurysm screening studyfound that screening reduced the mortality from aneurysm diseasein men by 42% after four years of follow up; it is expected,with further study, to show a small but significant decreasein the population mortality.⁷ The study also showed . . . [Full text of this article]

-->
Add to CiteULike CiteULike Add to Complore Complore Add to Connotea Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us Add to Digg Digg Add to Reddit Reddit Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon Add to Technorati Technorati What's this?

Relevant Articles

Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm: Headline is misleading: Peter Lamont
BMJ 2005 330: 601. [Extract] [Full Text]

National screening programme for aortic aneurysm: Roger M Greenhalgh
BMJ 2004 328: 1087-1088. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Lamont, P. (2005). Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm: Headline is misleading. BMJ 330: 601-601 [Full text]
Greenhalgh, R. M (2004). National screening programme for aortic aneurysm. BMJ 328: 1087-1088 [Full text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

A relevant extracardiac domain for echocardiography.: Tomaso Gnecchi-Ruscone, et al.
bmj.com, 8 May 2004 [Full text]
Preventable deaths must be prevented!: Dr.Naseem A. Qureshi MD, IMAPA, LMIPS
bmj.com, 9 May 2004 [Full text]
Potential role for CT colonography in screening for aortic aneurysm: David N Burling, et al.
bmj.com, 14 May 2004 [Full text]
Ultrasonology and GPs Practice: is it feasible?: Alfonso SAURO
bmj.com, 15 May 2004 [Full text]
Screening induces harm: Dink A. Legemate
bmj.com, 7 Jun 2004 [Full text]
AAA surgery--chance result?: MICHAEL S. SMITH
bmj.com, 26 Jul 2004 [Full text]
Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms: RAP Scott
bmj.com, 25 Aug 2004 [Full text]