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Home / Critical illness cover / - Aorta graft surgery
Definition
Undergoing surgery for disease of the aorta needing excision and surgical replacement of a portion of the diseased aorta with a graft. For this definition, aorta means the thoracic and abdominal aorta but not its branches. Cover usually includes surgery for traumatic injury to the aorta needing excision and surgical replacement of a portion of the aorta with a graft.
What does this mean?
The aorta is the main artery in the body, which carries the blood on the beginning of its journey around the body. The aorta may be weakened by an aneurysm – which is a thinning and bulging of the arterial wall, or it may become narrowed by fatty deposits. An operation can be carried out to correct the narrowing or to replace or repair the damaged part of the aorta wall.
NEWS
'Extension of breast cancer screening improves mortality rates'
23 April 2008 17:19:08
Life insurance policies may be affected by the findings of a new study which claims screening women aged 70 to 75 for breast cancer has a "strong impact" on mortality rates for the disease.
After studying five years worth of screening data, Jacques Fracheboud, a senior researcher at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, concluded that screening this age group has "started to have a statistically significant effect".
His findings, which are the first to back up the notion that providing mammograms to women over the age of 70 is effective, were presented at the Sixth European Breast Cancer Conference.
"The results of our study suggest that screening women aged 70 to 75 has a strong impact on breast cancer mortality and that it is effective and appropriate up to 75 years," Mr Fracheboud said.
Originally only covering women aged between 50 and 70, the breast cancer screening programme in the Netherlands was extended to include women up to the age of 75 in 1998.
Mr Fracheboud found that five years after the screening programme had been extended, the number of deaths from breast cancer in women aged 75 to 79 had decreased.
Catherine Foot, head of policy at Cancer Research UK, said that the government is planning to raise the age limit for breast cancer screening in the future.
In the meantime older women should be aware that they can still be screened after they stop receiving automatic invitations, she added.
According to the organisation, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the UK with more than 44,000 women diagnosed each year.
Please click here for advice on UK life insurance, life insurance policies and a life insurance quote
L&G underwriting service reduces application length
13 August 2007 17:13:15
Leading life insurance provider Legal & General (L&G) has claimed that its new underwriting service has helped consumers and financial advisers alike.
Recent research showed that 89 per cent of customers were pleased with the L&G Max service, which went live in February 2006.
The phone service acquires all relevant medical and lifestyle information from a customer, allowing quicker service and an avoidance of potentially awkward interviews.
Bonnie Burns, Product and Propositions Director for Protection, told Easier.com: "Advisers would prefer to focus on selling financial products, not becoming 'medical experts'.
"Therefore we, as the protection specialists, should take the responsibility of asking customers about their lifestyle and medical background with experienced staff who are trained in this sensitive area."
She added: "This results in a more cohesive experience for the customer and quicker application turnaround times for advisers."
Lung cancer trial launched
08 May 2008 15:55:14
Scientists have launched a medical trial to test a new method of detecting lung cancer in people at greatest risk of developing the disease.
Funded by Cancer Research UK, the trial aims to see if more cases of lung cancer can be detected in the disease's early stages by screening long-term smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) - a condition which may affect life insurance policies.
COPD is a degenerative lung condition largely caused by smoking and includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Although more than 100 people are diagnosed with lung cancer in the UK each day, the disease has one of the worst survival rates of any cancer with only seven per cent of patients still alive five years after diagnosis.
If some types of lung cancer are detected at an early stage, then a five-year survival rate of up to 80 per cent can be achieved.
Lead researcher Professor Stephen Spiro, of University College London, said: "Many of the tests that have been used to screen for lung cancer have not been able to pick up very early signs of the disease so we're using two new tests which we think could be better at picking up lung cancer earlier."
23 April 2008 17:19:08
Life insurance policies may be affected by the findings of a new study which claims screening women aged 70 to 75 for breast cancer has a "strong impact" on mortality rates for the disease.
After studying five years worth of screening data, Jacques Fracheboud, a senior researcher at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, concluded that screening this age group has "started to have a statistically significant effect".
His findings, which are the first to back up the notion that providing mammograms to women over the age of 70 is effective, were presented at the Sixth European Breast Cancer Conference.
"The results of our study suggest that screening women aged 70 to 75 has a strong impact on breast cancer mortality and that it is effective and appropriate up to 75 years," Mr Fracheboud said.
Originally only covering women aged between 50 and 70, the breast cancer screening programme in the Netherlands was extended to include women up to the age of 75 in 1998.
Mr Fracheboud found that five years after the screening programme had been extended, the number of deaths from breast cancer in women aged 75 to 79 had decreased.
Catherine Foot, head of policy at Cancer Research UK, said that the government is planning to raise the age limit for breast cancer screening in the future.
In the meantime older women should be aware that they can still be screened after they stop receiving automatic invitations, she added.
According to the organisation, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the UK with more than 44,000 women diagnosed each year.
Please click here for advice on UK life insurance, life insurance policies and a life insurance quote
13 August 2007 17:13:15
Leading life insurance provider Legal & General (L&G) has claimed that its new underwriting service has helped consumers and financial advisers alike.
Recent research showed that 89 per cent of customers were pleased with the L&G Max service, which went live in February 2006.
The phone service acquires all relevant medical and lifestyle information from a customer, allowing quicker service and an avoidance of potentially awkward interviews.
Bonnie Burns, Product and Propositions Director for Protection, told Easier.com: "Advisers would prefer to focus on selling financial products, not becoming 'medical experts'.
"Therefore we, as the protection specialists, should take the responsibility of asking customers about their lifestyle and medical background with experienced staff who are trained in this sensitive area."
She added: "This results in a more cohesive experience for the customer and quicker application turnaround times for advisers."
08 May 2008 15:55:14
Scientists have launched a medical trial to test a new method of detecting lung cancer in people at greatest risk of developing the disease.
Funded by Cancer Research UK, the trial aims to see if more cases of lung cancer can be detected in the disease's early stages by screening long-term smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) - a condition which may affect life insurance policies.
COPD is a degenerative lung condition largely caused by smoking and includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Although more than 100 people are diagnosed with lung cancer in the UK each day, the disease has one of the worst survival rates of any cancer with only seven per cent of patients still alive five years after diagnosis.
If some types of lung cancer are detected at an early stage, then a five-year survival rate of up to 80 per cent can be achieved.
Lead researcher Professor Stephen Spiro, of University College London, said: "Many of the tests that have been used to screen for lung cancer have not been able to pick up very early signs of the disease so we're using two new tests which we think could be better at picking up lung cancer earlier."