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NSC calls for national artery screening

Date published: 05/01/2006

Experts are calling for a nationwide screening programme for abdominal aortic aneurysm ? which kills thousands each year in the UK, according to a recent magazine report.

The blood vessel condition accounts for 1.36 per cent of deaths in men over 65 in the UK, and the National Screening Committee (NSC) is calling for a national routine screening programme to help identify the condition early on, reports Pulse magazine. Abdominal aortic aneurysm ? a swelling in the main blood vessel from the heart ? could be identified using ultrasound screening, according to a number of recent reports into the aneurysms.

Sir Muir Gray, director of the National Screening Programmes, told Pulse magazine: "We are recommending screening for aortic aneurysm, but there is an issue over lack of treatment services. "It looks good but there's a lot of work needed."

There is thought to be less of a risk for women developing the condition, although figures show abdominal aortic aneurysms account for 0.45 per cent of deaths in women over 65.

But Cathy Ross of the British Heart Foundation said this should not prevent them also benefiting from any national screening, saying: "Although the risk to women from this potentially life threatening condition is lower than to men, gender should not be a factor on which to base treatment or care." Department of Health officials are said to be considering the NSC's proposals.

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