Aneurysm screening saves grandfather with days to spare (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Aneurysm screening saves grandfather with days to spare

10:00am Saturday 31st July 2010

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A 79-year-old grandfather is lucky to be alive after staff at St George’s Hospital spotted a deadly aneurysm with days to spare.

Terence McCarthy is just one success story of the hospital’s screening programme for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), which spots the condition before it is too late.

Doctors told the pensioner, who lives in New Malden, he would have died days later if they had not undertaken an emergency operation.

He said: “If I’d decided I was going somewhere else that day, I’d be dead. That’s how close it was.

“The moral of this story is, if you have the opportunity to take the test, take it - it might just save your life.

“My family are overjoyed, and it means I can see my grandsons grow up now.”

Mr McCarthy decided to get screened after two close friends died from aneurysms, which are often symptomless.

The condition is caused by the enlargening of the aorta, the largest artery in the body.

Many people can live with the condition for years if it remains stable, but if the rate of growth is fast the vessel can burst and cause almost instant death.

Mr McCarthy attended the clinic at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, where he was told it was 5cm big - but at another check-up six months later, it had grown to 6.4cm.

He was sent for an emergency doctor’s appointment the next day, by which point the aneurysm had swelled to 7cm.

Doctors operated days later and Mr McCarthy is now enjoying his new-found health with his wife, Jean, two sons and four grandsons.

The hospital has been screening men over 65 since June last year - with 3,652 taking part 49 were found to have AAAs and two of those 49 were referred for surgery.

Jonothan Earnshaw, director for the national NHS AAA Screening Programme said: "Men who have an abdominal aortic aneurysm will not generally notice any symptoms, which is why screening is so important.

“The test is simple, pain-free and usually takes less than 10 minutes. Early detection of AAAs through screening enables us to offer monitoring or treatment, reducing the number of deaths caused by the condition."

For more information, call 020 8266 6261, email aaa.screening@stgeorges.nhs.uk or visit aaa.screening.nhs.uk.

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