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Wednesday, 09 March 2005
MPs to be offered screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms
A simple ultrasound scan to detect abdominal aortic aneurysms is being offered to all older male MPs at the House of Commons this week. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Men’s Health is running a two-hour screening session this week to support its call for a national screening programme for this little-known but usually fatal condition.

Dartford MP, Dr Howard Stoate, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Men’s Health, said; ˜The scan takes just 10 minutes, but it could save thousands of men from what is a killer condition.’

Men are far more likely than women to suffer from this condition and because it is extremely rare in young men, only older MPs are being invited to take part in the screening session.

Dr Stoate, backed by the Men’s Health Forum, is calling for the introduction of a national screening campaign for men over 65, urging the Government to tackle a problem that currently kills about 6,000 men a year in the UK and is becoming more common.

Dr Stoate said; ˜Unlike other existing screening programmes, only one scan is needed to give lifetime protection, and the treatment is as near a cure as is possible in medicines”.

A recent scientific study of screening men over 65 found that it reduced mortality from aneurysm disease by 42 per cent after four years of follow up. If a ruptured aneurysm is treated as an emergency, mortality exceeds 50 per cent in most hospitals; if the aneurysm can be detected earlier and treatment is planned in advance, mortality falls to three per cent. Other research confirms these findings and a pilot study of aneurysm screening has been running successfully in Gloucestershire for over 10 years.
 
Notes

Aneurysms occur when a normal thin artery degenerates and starts to stretch. Like a blowout in a car tyre, the stretched aorta is an area of weakness and can burst, usually causing death. The commonest place for an aneurysm to develop is in the aorta, the main blood vessel that lives at the back of the abdomen and supplies blood to the legs. Smoking, high blood pressure and stress are contributory factors.
 
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© 2008 Dr Howard Stoate - Member of Parliament for Dartford
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