Short version of the S3 guideline on screening, diagnosis, therapy and follow-up of abdominal aortic aneurysms

In this article a brief version of the newly developed S3 guidelines on screening, diagnosis, therapy and follow-up of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), which was developed under the auspices of the German Society of Vascular Surgery and VascularMedicine (DGG) is presented. In addition to the DGG, participating professional societies were the German Radiological Society (DRG), German Society for Angiology/Society for Vascular Medicine (DGA), German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), German Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (DEGUM), German Vascular League e.V., German Society for Interventional Radiology (DEGIR), German Society for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI), German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (DGTHG) and the German Society of Surgery (DGCH). The guidelines are based on a systematic literature search in Medline (PubMed) for the period from 1 January 2000 to 1 January 2017. Important publications from 2017 were also considered. The selection of evidence was made by a multilevel screening process. In addition to the evidence, other criteria were included in the assessment of the recommendation level, such as the consistency of the study results, the clinical relevance of the endpoints and effect sizes, the benefit–risk balance, the applicability of the study results to the patient target group and the care system, the feasibility of the recommendations in everyday life, patient preferences and ethical and legal considerations. All recommendations/findings were approved with strong consensus (approval of >95% of the participating professional societies/associations). Thus, the present text version of the S3 guidelines on AAA represents the view of all participating societies.