Amb motiu del tancament d'estiu, la validació de documents es reprendrà a partir del 28 d'agost de 2026. Disculpeu les molèsties.
Con motivo del cierre de verano, la validación de documentos se reanudará a partir del 28 de agosto de 2026. Disculpad las molestias
Due to the summer closure, document validation will resume starting August 28, 2026. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Files

682388.pdf (729.07 KB)

Document type

Article

Version

Published version

Publication date

2017-04-28

Publication license

cc-by (c) Sisó Almirall, Antoni et al., 2017
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/130966

Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening program using hand-held ultrasound in primary healthcare

Journal Title

Authors

Director/Tutor

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Related resource

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176877

Abstract

We determined the feasibility of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening program led by family physicians in public primary healthcare setting using hand-held ultrasound device. The potential study population was 11,214 men aged ≥ 60 years attended by three urban, public primary healthcare centers. Participants were recruited by randomly-selected telephone calls. Ultrasound examinations were performed by four trained family physicians with a hand-held ultrasound device (Vscan®). AAA observed were verified by confirmatory imaging using standard ultrasound or computed tomography. Cardiovascular risk factors were determined. The prevalence of AAA was computed as the sum of previously-known aneurysms, aneurysms detected by the screening program and model-based estimated undiagnosed aneurysms. We screened 1,010 men, with mean age of 71.3 (SD 6.9) years; 995 (98.5%) men had normal aortas and 15 (1.5%) had AAA on Vscan®. Eleven out of 14 AAA-cases (78.6%) had AAA on confirmatory imaging (one patient died). The total prevalence of AAA was 2.49% (95%CI 2.20 to 2.78). The median aortic diameter at diagnosis was 3.5 cm in screened patients and 4.7 cm (p<0.001) in patients in whom AAA was diagnosed incidentally. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified coronary heart disease (OR = 4.6, 95%CI 1.3 to 15.9) as the independent factor with the highest odds ratio. A screening program led by trained family physicians using hand-held ultrasound was a feasible, safe and reliable tool for the early detection of AAA.

Subject

Aneurismes aòrtics, Atenció primària, Ecografia, Factors de risc en les malalties, Cribratge

Subject (English)

Aortic aneurysms, Primary health care, Ultrasonic imaging, Risk factors in diseases, Medical screening

Citation

Collections

Articles publicats en revistes (Medicina)
Articles publicats en revistes (IDIBAPS: Institut d'investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer)

Citation

SISÓ ALMIRALL, Antoni, et al. Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening program using hand-held ultrasound in primary healthcare. PLoS One. 2017. Vol. 12, num. 4, pags. e0176877. ISSN 1932-6203. [consulted: 9 of August of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/130966

Export metadata

JSON - METS

Share record