Britain needs to screen for aortic aneurysms

Rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm kills between 6000 and 10 000 people a year in England and Wales (1.7% of all deaths), and many of those deaths could be prevented by a national screening programme, said Peter Harris, a consultant vascular surgeon from Liverpool, last week at a conference organised by the BMJ and the Journal of Medical Screening. “The evidence for the effectiveness of screening is so strong,” agreed Malcolm Law, senior lecturer in preventive medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, “that a programme should be introduced now. There is no need for a randomised controlled trial.” * Aneurysms - …