Screening of the Abdominal Aorta During Routine Echocardiographic Examination is Cost effective and leads to Increased Statin Utilization by Detecting Subclinical Atherosclerosis

Background:
Performing abdominal aorta screenings during routine echocardiographic examination can be useful for quick detection of asymptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) without additional cost. Furthermore, detection of any atherosclerosis of the aorta during this screening would qualify the patient for statin therapy with potential to improve outcome. The goal of our study was to evaluate the effect of routine screening of abdominal aorta during echocardiographic examination.

Methods:
Recently, we started performing routine AAA screenings during routine echocardiographic examinations. We retrospectively studied a total of 727 patients with successful screenings between the ages of 33 and 96 with a median age of 72.4. We evaluated the presence of atherosclerosis of the aorta and its effect on lipid therapy and detection of asymptomatic AAA.

Results:
We found 18 (2.4%) asymptomatic AAA’s and 468 (64.3%) cases of atherosclerosis of abdominal aorta. Retrospectively, data was collected on preventative lipid therapy. Of the 468 patients that had detected atherosclerosis of aorta, 414 patients had clinical followed up. 240 (57.9%) of patients were already treated with a statin due to another indications. However, 38 (9.1%) of these patients had been started on statin drugs for the first time, 85 (20.5%) were set a new lower LDL goal, and 41 (9.9%) had an intensified statin treatment.

Conclusions:
Using a routine screening of the abdominal aorta during standard echocardiograms can markedly improve preventive statin therapy in patients with asymptomatic atherosclerosis detected during screening without additional cost.