Aneurysm: search for the time bomb in the stomach

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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An aneurysm of the abdominal aorta is life-threatening. Because the pathological enlargement of the main artery can burst. Since the beginning of the year, the health insurers have been paying for ultrasound screening for men aged 65 and over - but not for women.

In the case of an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta, a bulging of the vessel wall forms at one point on the large blood vessel, which can tear at some point. "The person affected can then bleed to death within a very short time," warns Prof. Thomas Fischer from the Charité Berlin-Mitte campus. With an ultrasound, specialists like him can recognize the danger in good time and eliminate it with an operation.

One-time ultrasound examination for men aged 65 and over

Experts from the German Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (DEGUM) therefore welcome the fact that screening is now a statutory health insurance service, at least for men over 65. This is because the life-threatening vascular changes appear more frequently in men of this age group than in women. About four to eight percent of them get it.

Screening is also required for women

Women develop an abdominal aortic aneurysm significantly less often: Only 0.5 to 1.5 percent of them are affected. Nevertheless, experts from the specialist society are calling for women to also benefit from the preventive medical check-up.

This applies in particular to patients with risk factors such as arteriosclerosis, diabetes, high blood pressure, a lipid metabolism disease and to heavy smokers. DEGUM recommends that people with a greatly increased risk of aneurysms should be examined from the age of 55 - regardless of whether they are men or women.

The screening could take place, for example, as part of the “Check-up 35” health examination, which is recommended every two years. This can be done by general practitioners, urologists, internists, surgeons and radiologists.

However, special qualifications are required for an ultrasound examination for aneurysms of the abdominal aorta. It is not just a matter of determining the diameter of the abdominal aorta, but also of detecting a tear or an aneurysm in the vessel wall at an early stage, says Fischer.

Undiscovered danger

An abdominal aortic aneurysm usually does not cause any symptoms for a long time and then often goes undetected. The main indications can be back pain or kidney pain if the aneurysm becomes so large that it puts pressure on the neighboring structures or organs.

If an abdominal aortic aneurysm bursts, unbearable abdominal pain suddenly occurs, which radiates into the back, along with nausea and nausea. The internal bleeding is massive and life threatening. Only every tenth patient reaches the hospital alive.

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