In Canada, each year about 20,000 people are diagnosed with a abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). An AAA is a ballooning of the major blood vessel/artery in your abdomen. Most  people do not know they have a AAA until it is too late and the AAA, like a balloon with too much pressure, has popped/ruptured. This can cause severe abdominal pain or lower back pain and more importantly - death.

If the AAA pops/ruptures, the chance of dying before you reach the hospital is 50% and the chance of dying overall is as high as 90%. That is why early detection is the most important step to saving lives. Despite Canadian guidelines supporting AAA screening, no provincial or territorial screening programs exist in Canada.

Luckily, with point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) technology available today that can be attached to a cellphone or tablet, our 1st of its kind clinic in Canada will detect these AAAs before they ever become a problem saving countless lives.