Screening 'would cut artery deaths'

A national screening programme that could save thousands of lives should be introduced to prevent the rupture of the main artery in men, doctors say.

Research published in The Lancet today says screening for aortic aneurysm, a swelling of the main artery, which can burst with fatal results, is more cost-effective than breast cancer screening. A study at St Richards Hospital in Chichester found screening reduced deaths by 42 per cent.

One in 20 men over 65 has the tell-tale balloon-like bulge, caused by a weakness in the wall of the aorta, and in one in 10 of these cases the aneurysm is at serious risk of rupturing. The condition is six times as common in men, but in most cases has no symptoms.

Surgery at this stage, although risky, is much safer than when the aneurysm has ruptured. When an aneurysm was detected through screening and operated on, the mortality rate was 6 per cent, but when it ruptured without warning the mortality rate was 37 per cent.