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| | | CASE NOTES
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| | | Dr Mark Porter gives listeners the low-down on what the medical profession does and doesn't know. Each week an expert in the studio tackles a particular topic and there are reports from around the UK on the health of the nation - and the NHS.
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|  | | | | "I spend half my week practising medicine and the other half writing and talking about it as a GP in Gloucestershire. Working on Case Notes has been a boon for both me and my patients. One of the principal aims of the programme is to keep our listeners up-to-date with the latest developments in healthcare, and to accomplish that I get to interview a wide range of specialists at the cutting edge of medicine. A rare privilege that ensures our listeners aren't the only ones to learn something new."
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 Full programme transcript >>
Aneurysms
In this week’s Case Notes, Dr Mark Porter investigates aneurysms – a swelling in the blood vessel that can happen in any artery in the body.
The bigger the artery, the more dangerous the aneurysm and the biggest in the body is the aorta, the main artery from the heart. If an aortic aneurysm bursts outside a hospital environment, there is an 80% mortality rate.
Most aortic aneurysms occur in the abdomen, which is why the Department of Health announced a screening programme using ultrasound scans to pick up aneurysms early enough to do something about them before they rupture. It's hoped that the programme could save 1500 lives a year.
Mark speaks to vascular surgeon Hany Hafez, director of the screening programme at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester, and has his own aorta screened.
Mark also visits the vascular ward at St Mary’s Hospital in London - a specialist centre for treating aneurysms. He talks to the team that manages emergency cases, and meets a patient who has had preventative surgery.
Just as dangerous as aortic aneurysms are those which rupture in the confined space of the skull.
Around 1 in 50 of the population has an intracranial aneurysm. Most are women, and will never know they have a problem assuming the aneurysm remains intact, but the outlook is very different if it bursts.
Mark speaks to Lauren Downie, whose intercranial aneurysm burst when she was 48, and to neuroradiologist Andy Clifton, who describes the keyhole technique used to treat Lauren.
Next week: Urology | | |
RELATED LINKS
NHS Direct: Aneurysm
St Richard's Hospital
St Mary's Hospital, Paddington
The Vascular Society
BBC Health: Ask the doctor - Brain aneurysm
BBC Health: Why aneurysm screening is good news
NHS Direct
NetDoctor
Dr Foster
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