The Fate of Patients Opportunistically Screened for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms During Echocardiogram or Arterial Duplex Scans

With a falling prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in the general population, opportunistic screening of high risk populations may become a more efficient approach than current population based screening programmes.There is a lack of contemporary data with long term outcomes evaluating this approach.This study demonstrates a high yield of AAA identification using opportunistic screening in patients attending hospital for transthoracic echocardiograms or lower limb arterial duplex scans.An evaluation of AAA diameter progression and clinical outcomes after an eight year follow up period demonstrated few of these AAAs were treated but those with an AAA were twice as likely to die during follow up.Objective: To evaluate the long term outcomes of individuals who attended for transthoracic echocardiograms (TTEs) or lower limb arterial duplex scans (LLADS) and were opportunistically screened for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA).Methods: Follow up of a prospective single centre pilot cohort study conducted between December 2012 and September 2014 at a tertiary vascular centre in the United Kingdom.Men and Women aged 65 and over were invited to undergo AAA screening when attending hospital for TTE or LLADS.Screening was performed by ultrasonographic examination of the abdomen at the end of their planned scans.AAA was defined as an abdominal aorta outer wall to outer wall anteroposterior diameter of 30 mm or more.Patients were excluded if they had a known AAA or previous abdominal aorta intervention.Follow up outcomes were evaluated in December 2020.Results: 762 patients were enrolled in this study; 486 had TTE and 276 patients had LLADS.The overall incidence of AAA was 54 (7.1%) in the combined cohort, 25 (5.1%) in the TTE group, and 29 (10.5%) in the LLADS group.After a median 7.6 years, two of the 54 AAAs received intervention in the form of endovascular repair.Three others reached treatment threshold but were managed conservatively.The overall intervention rate was 3.7% of detected AAAs.Adjusted mortality rates in those with AAA vs. without was 64.8% and 36%, respectively (hazard ratio [HR] 2.02, p < .001).Diabetes (HR 1.35, p .015)and older age (HR 1.18, p .17)were the other factors associated with death.Conclusion: AAA is associated with a significantly increased mortality rate.Populations attending hospital for TTE or LLADS demonstrate a higher prevalence of AAA than population based screening; however, the proportion offered AAA intervention was low.Further research into opportunistic screening should target those more likely to undergo AAA repair, unless other interventions are demonstrated, to reduce the general increased mortality in AAA patients.