Medicines for Aortic aneurysm

There is no tablet that shrinks an aortic aneurysm; medicines are used to reduce the overall risk to the blood vessels and to slow an aneurysm enlarging, while the aneurysm itself is watched with scans and, when large enough, repaired surgically. A statin is usually offered to lower cholesterol and protect the artery walls, blood pressure is controlled with blood-pressure-lowering medicines, and an antiplatelet is often added as part of cardiovascular risk reduction. The most important step of all is not a medicine but stopping smoking, which does more than anything else to stop an aneurysm growing and bursting. Your team decides the right combination for you alongside a healthy lifestyle.

Not necessarily. Small aneurysms are usually not repaired straight away, because for a small one the risk of an operation can outweigh the risk of leaving it alone. Instead they are kept under regular ultrasound monitoring (surveillance) to track their size, while the focus is on slowing growth — above all by stopping smoking — and reducing cardiovascular risk with measures such as controlling blood pressure and taking a statin. Repair is recommended when an aneurysm reaches a size at which the risk of rupture outweighs the risk of surgery, or if it is growing quickly or causing symptoms. Many small aneurysms are simply watched safely for years.

Smoking is the single biggest factor both in an aortic aneurysm forming in the first place and in it enlarging and going on to rupture. It damages and weakens the wall of the aorta and speeds up the bulging. For someone with a known aneurysm, stopping smoking does more to reduce the risk of it bursting than any tablet, which is why it is given such emphasis. The good news is that stopping helps at any age and at any point, so it is always worth doing. Your GP can offer support and treatments to help you stop, and this is one of the most powerful things you can do for your health.

In the UK, men are offered a one-off ultrasound screening scan of the tummy to check the aorta, because aneurysms are commoner in men and usually cause no symptoms until they are dangerous. The scan is quick, painless and uses sound waves to measure the width of the aorta. If it is normal, no further checks are usually needed; if a small aneurysm is found, regular surveillance scans are arranged to keep an eye on it; and if a larger one is found, you are referred to a specialist to discuss repair. The point of screening is to find aneurysms early, while they can still be safely watched or treated, rather than discovering them only when they cause an emergency.