hi I'm Virginia Robinson I'm a full-service family doctor in Fernie BC and today we're going to review the aortic scan I start with palpating the xiphoid process and I'm going to scan the aorta all the way from the xiphoid to the umbilicus where it splits into the iliac vessels it's really important to do this scan in anyone over the age of 55 particularly smokers and Men and what you're looking for is abdominal aortic aneurysm you can see the aorta immediately anterior to the spine it is thick walled pulsatile and non-compressible I'm going to follow this vessel all the way down to the bifurcation sometimes you run into gas and you have to wait till it moves along until you can see the aorta clearly as you can here if the aorta appears large I will stop and measure the aorta using my measuring tools in this case the aorta is 1.5 centimeters which is well below the three centimeter cut off I'll then continue my skin adjusting my depth to keep it in the middle of the screen all the way to the bifurcation which appears here this concludes the aorta scan
