Vascular Laboratory and Imaging

Assessment of the Accuracy of AortaScan for Detection of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA)

Abbas A, Smith A, Cecelja M, et al (King’s College London British Heart Foundation Centre of Res Excellence, London, UK) Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg 43:167–170, 2012^§

Abstract

Background

AortaScan AMI 9700 is a portable 3D ultrasound device that automatically measures the maximum diameter of the abdominal aorta without the need for a trained sonographer. It is designed to rapidly diagnose or exclude an AAA and may have particular use in screening programs. Our objective was to determine its accuracy to detect AAA.

Methods

Subjects from our AAA screening and surveillance programs were examined. The aorta was scanned using the AortaScan and computed tomography (CT).

Results

Ninety-one subjects underwent imaging (44 AAA on conventional ultrasound surveillance and 47 controls). The largest measurement obtained by AortaScan was compared against the CT-aortic measurement. The mean aortic diameter was 2.8 cm. The CT scan confirmed the diagnosis of AAA in 43 subjects. There was one false positive measurement on conventional ultrasound. AortaScan missed the diagnosis of AAA in eight subjects. There were thirteen false positive measurements. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 81%, 72%, 72% and 81% respectively.

Conclusion

A device to detect AAA without the need for a trained operator would have potential in a community-based screening programme. The AortaScan, however, lacks adequate sensitivity and significant technical improvement is necessary before it could be considered a replacement for trained screening personnel (Figs 1 and 4, Table 2).

Figure 1 AortaScan AMI 9700.⁷ Editor’s Note: Please refer to original journal article for full references. (Reprinted from European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Abbas A, Smith A, Cecelja M, et al. Assessment of the accuracy of AortaScan for detection of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2012;43:167–170. Copyright 2012, with permission from the European Society for Vascular Surgery.)

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