Abstract 18096: Screening of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm during Transthoracic Echocardiography

Introduction: We previously reported that the prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in patients who underwent scheduled transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) was higher than that of AAA in patients who underwent abdominal ultrasonography (AUS). However, the patient backgrounds differed significantly between the two groups. Hypothesis: We hypothesized TTE detected AAA as similarly as AUS, one of standard methods for the screening of AAA. Methods: A total of 7,619 patients who were scheduled for TTE from 2009 to 2010 in our hospital were prospectively included. The abdominal aorta was evaluated at the end of the routine protocol. All patients who received scheduled abdominal ultrasonography (AUS) during the same period, a total of 15,433 patients, were included. The patients with known AAA and those without consent were excluded. In order to compare the TTE group to AUS group, we developed a propensity score for profiles of patients who received TTE or AUS for potential confounding bias. Specifically, a multivariate logistic regression model was fit with TTE or AUS as a dependent variable, which included age, sex, numbers of comorbidities, and the presence of each comorbidity. Consequently, 4,388 patients in each group were matched for analyses. Results: In propensity-matched patients, AAA was detected in 59 patients of TTE group and 48 patients of AUS group and the prevalence of the detection of AAA was not different between TTE and AUS (p=0.331). Positive associations were observed between AAA detected and male sex (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 3.25; 95% CI, 2.05-5.15; P<.001), older age (adjusted OR, 1.029; 95% CI, 1.01-1.046; P<.001), having ischemic heart disease (adjusted OR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.04-3.03; P=0.033), and having hypertension (adjusted OR, 2.16; 95% CI, 1.38-3.38; P=001). Conclusions: TTE detected AAA as similarly as AUS. This result suggested that additional examination of the abdominal aorta during scheduled TTE was efficient for the screening of AAA.