About 1,000 Canadians suffer ruptured aortic aneurysms every year and most people die as a result. But doctors say they could cut that number in half with ultrasound screening programs.
Abdominal aortic aneurysms mostly affect men over the age of 65. They cause the aorta to swell and bulge. If it leaks or ruptures, the outcome is fatal in 80 per cent of people.
"The ultrasound program would definitely save lives," Dr. James Dooner of the Canadian Society for Vascular Surgery told CTV News.
Doctors say they want everyone over the age of 65 to get an ultrasound, so the condition can be caught before it kills.
"People are unaware they have it until a crisis develops," Dooner said.
The aneurysm is a slow and steady growth in the wall of the blood vessel. Dr. Thomas Lindsay, also of the society and the University Health Network said it is a "silent condition," which only comes to attention when it may already be too late.
"Instead of being about an inch, they grow large to the size of a grapefruit. As they grow the walls weaken and can rupture causing sometimes sudden death," Lindsay told CTV News.
John Hoskin, 71, is a patient with the condition. His aneurysm was caught early.
"I know people where they didn't find it and they didn't make it through," he told CTV News.
"It's like high blood pressure. It's a silent killer."
Hoskin said he finds the ultrasounds reassuring.
Ruptured aortas occur in about five per cent of men between the ages of 65 and 75 and just under one per cent of women of the same age. Women who smoked or have a family history of the condition are at a higher risk.
Smokers in general are four to five times more likely to develop the condition than non-smokers.
The risk of the aorta ballooning or bursting increases with age. Even people who make it to the hospital are likely to die, Lindsay said. In Ontario, almost half of people who get surgery to repair a ruptured aorta don't survive.
The United States offers screening to those between the ages of 65 and 75 considered at high-risk. A screening program was approved by the government in Britain in 2008 and is in the planning stages.
"(The study) reduced the number of deaths from aneurisms by 50 per cent," said Lindsay.
An ultrasound screens the abdominal aorta, the main blood vessel in the stomach, and gauges its size. The screening costs about $50.
Doctors say the idea is to spend a small amount of money up front to pick up the disease early, so that it costs less to treat it in the long run.
However, the programs would create a surge in test demands and surgeries to repair damaged aortas, which could put a strain on the health-care system. Lindsay said there might be some capacity problems.
"We're probably going to need to look at resources," he said.
Dr. Frank Lederle, a specialist in internal medicine and director of the Veterans Affairs Center for Epidemiological and Clinical Research in Minneapolis, Minn. said not all enlarged aortic arteries go on to burst, and patients need to be made aware of that fact.
"It's important to not over-treat when you screen," Lederle said. "And patient anxiety becomes a factor. So how this is portrayed and conveyed to the patient is very important."
With files from The Canadian Press and a report from CTV's Avis Favaro
