There are new important health recommendations out tonight for anyone who has a history of smoking and is older. The latest guidelines say these individuals are at high risk for a deadly ruptured blood vessel in the abdomen.
It’s estimated more than 15,000 people die each year in the u.s. from abdominal aortic aneurysms that rupture. The disease is typically silent, until the aorta burts. At that point, the prognosis is grim.

New health recommendations warn that men who have ever smoked need to undergo an abdominal aortic aneurysm screening. It’s estimated that more than 15,000 people die each year in the U.S. from abdominal aortic aneurysms that rupture. The disease is typically silent, until the aorta burts. At that point, the prognosis is grim.

Barry Yessner is a good example. “I started smoking as a teenager, it was a popular thing to do when you were 14, 15. You couldn’t wait to start smoking and walk around with a pack of cigarettes in your pocket. It was the right thing to do if you were one of the guys, and I started smoking then and I smoked all the way up until I was about 50,” he says.

Barry has a history of heart disease. But, it was a car accident that forced him to get an X-ray of his abdomen. Doctors found an abdominal aortic aneurysm: a huge bulge in a weakened section of the aorta, the largest artery in the body.

Dr. Michael Marin, Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York, says, “For many years the issue of an abdominal aortic aneurysm screening was very controversial. While it is easy to say that everyone should be screened, the question always comes to is the cost of screening relevant to the benefit.” Now the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says men who have ever smoked should get an ultrasound of the abdomen once, between the ages of 65 and 75 years of age to look for an abdominal aneurysm.

“The appearance of the aneurysm on ultrasound can tell us its presence or absence and the screening which is non-invasive, not painful, and not uncomfortable can be accomplished in a matter of a few minutes,” says Dr. Marin.

The findings were based on the review of four major studies which showed screened patients had a significantly lower death rate due to a ruptured aneurysm than unscreened patients. 95% of patients who died were over age 65.

According to the task force there’s not strong enough evidence that an abdominal aortic aneurysm screening is appropriate for those who have never smoked. And the group does not recommend that women be screened, as their risk for an aneurysm is much lower than that of men.

Barry was lucky. He had a stent procedure that supports the weakened aorta, and now his aneurysm worries are behind him. “I’m now an advocate to everyone I see. You have to get a screening, you have to do it,” says Barry.

Especially if you’re a man who has ever smoked.

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