Any heart doctors around?

[WhatALump]

I’d like to ask a question but don’t happen to know anyone to ask.

Why don’t you try asking the question and seeing if anyone knows.

@PurpleDaisies good idea!

What I want to know is that if some attends their abdominal aortic aneurysm screening appointment would the doctors pick up on atherosclerotic heart disease?

I'm not a cardiologist but I'm a nurse working on a cardiology ward. AAA is not something I come across in my ward so unsure what the screening process involves?
As for screening for atherosclerosis.. have you had your cholesterol levels checked? that would indicate high levels of plaque in the arteries.

@Killerqueen9 it’s not me it’s my dad.

He recently passed away after feeling unwell, visiting a doctor overseas, got diagnosed with blockages in his heart. They performed a triple bypass the next day but several days later had a fatal heart attack.

While sorting his things at home, I came across many appointments for the AAA screening that he hasn’t attended and they kept sending him repeat appointments.

I’m just wondering if he would still be with me had he not been silly enough to ignore his appointments and if the screening would have flagged up that he was in a bad way.

Probably not much help to you but my husband had a stent put in. He had a scan a few months later and they were very thorough with checking everything. The scan was over 30 minutes long.

So sorry for your loss. They don’t look at the heart during AAA screening so it wouldn’t have been picked up.

Sorry to hear this, OP. I’m not a cardiologist, but a GP. AAA screening is done by ultrasound, where the lower part of the aorta is visualised and measured. This test would not look at the coronary arteries at all - to do that requires an angiogram, which is a completely different procedure. Even if your Dad had attended his screenings there’s really no way his heart disease could have been picked up by that particular test.

Thank you all. I wasn’t sure if the parts they looked at would also be blocked and lead them to look at the heart itself.

The thought of him ignoring appointments that could have kept him alive has made me feel angry with him.

No, screening tests tend to look for one thing and one thing only. It wouldn’t have made a difference, sadly.

@AppropriateAdult tbh it makes me feel better that it wouldn’t make a difference. The thought that his stubbornness to not go to the appointment could have killed him was making me so cross

Maybe it's that your anger needs somewhere to go, OP. It's okay to feel whatever you feel. Grief is so painful. So sorry for your loss

I'm so so sorry. You must be in shock. It's normal to feel anger and to worry that a sudden death was preventable.

My DH recently had an abdominal ultrasound to check for aneurysms. The scan was negative, thank goodness, but it did show a bit of atherosclerotic plaque in the aorta. That's fairly normal, especially if you're over 50, and not necessarily an indication of heart disease. His GP wasn't especially concerned about it but wants to bring his lipid levels down a bit.

So even if your DF had had the scan it wouldn't likely have indicated other cardiovascular investigations were needed.

Sorry for your loss.