{"id":94184,"date":"2026-09-30T06:13:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=94184"},"modified":"2026-09-30T06:22:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:22:57","slug":"smart-tool-spots-abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-during-cancer-scan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/smart-tool-spots-abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-during-cancer-scan\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucky save: Smart tool spots a life-threatening abdominal aortic aneurysm on a cancer scan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><figure id=\"attachment_94191\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-94191\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-94191\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/29103657\/20260905_1931513-Willem-George-Erwee-NM-balloon-fest-courtesy-of-Erwee-Web.webp\" alt=\"Willem &quot;George&quot; Erwee, left, with his son, Will Erwee. A retired electrician in Colorado Springs, George went in for a scan for rectal cancer and learned he had a dangerous abdominal aneurysm, which doctors quickly fixed. Photo courtesy of Will Erwee.\" width=\"640\" height=\"402\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-94191\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Willem &#8220;George&#8221; Erwee, left, with his son, Will Erwee. A retired electrician in Colorado Springs, George went in for a scan for rectal cancer and learned he had a dangerous abdominal aneurysm, which doctors quickly fixed. Photo courtesy of Will Erwee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Willem \u201cGeorge\u201d Erwee, a 68-year-old retired electrician from Colorado Springs, went in for a scan for suspected rectal cancer, and a detection tool flagged something much more dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>The scan confirmed Erwee\u2019s rectal cancer. The smart system, called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eonhealth.com\/\">Eon<\/a>, also picked up an aneurysm in Erwee\u2019s abdominal aorta, a major blood vessel that sustains abdominal organs and, ultimately, almost everything down to the soles of the feet.<\/p>\n<div class=\"su-callout-box col-xs-12 col-sm-6 right\" style=\"background-color:#dce4e7; color:#2e3b44;\">\n<h2><strong>What is Eon, and what are \u201cincidental findings&#8221;? <\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Eon is a smart technology tool that searches radiology reports and flags potentially dangerous medical issues.<\/li>\n<li>The tool flags \u201cincidental findings.\u201d When people have scans for one purpose, like detecting cancer, the Eon system also hunts for unrelated issues that doctors should know about, in this case, an abdominal aneurysm.<\/li>\n<li>UCHealth has partnered with Denver-based Eon since 2022.<\/li>\n<li>So far, the Eon tool has flagged more than 39,000 medical issues that doctors are monitoring or have treated for UCHealth patients.<\/li>\n<li>Along with abdominal aortic aneurysms and thoracic aortic aneurysms, Eon also hunts for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/catching-lung-cancer-earlier-through-ai-powered-systems\/\">lung nodules that can lead to lung cancer<\/a> and early signs of pancreatic and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/thyroid-cancer-diagnosis-after-er-visit\/\">thyroid cancer<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>The cancer was a problem; the aneurysm, a much more urgent one.<\/p>\n<p>While Erwee was unlucky to learn about both his cancer and the aneurysm, his timing was excellent. Just weeks earlier, UCHealth medical experts in Colorado Springs had started using the Eon tool to hunt for abdominal aortic aneurysms.<\/p>\n<p>The Eon tool searches for what are known as \u201cincidental findings,\u201d or potential medical issues that pop up on scans and in radiology reports when medical experts aren\u2019t looking for them. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/thyroid-cancer-diagnosis-after-er-visit\/\">Read about a woman who was in a car accident and learned she had thyroid cancer.<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>For Erweee, the Eon system triggered a series of electronic health record updates that quickly brought the aneurysm to the attention of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/provider\/laura-c-kissell-md-surgery-vascular-surgery\/\">Dr. Laura Kissell<\/a>, a vascular surgeon at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/locations\/uchealth-vascular-surgery-memorial-hospital-central\">UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central<\/a>. Erwee met with Kissell on June 3, days after his May 28 scan, and a short time after the Eon system started flagging abdominal aneurysms in April.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Initially a tool to detect lung nodules, Eon now finds other irregularities, including signs of cancer<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>UCHealth technology experts partnered with Denver-based Eon in September of 2022. The Eon tool since has detected tens of thousands scan-related incidental findings for UCHealth patients and their providers.<\/p>\n<p>Today, doctors are monitoring 39,000 UCHealth patients for an incidental finding that the Eon system brought to light, says Steven Vasquez, a senior project manager for UCHealth\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/innovation\/\">CARE Innovation Center<\/a>, which shepherded the software\u2019s implementation.<\/p>\n<p>The Eon program at UCHealth launched four years ago with an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/catching-lung-cancer-earlier-through-ai-powered-systems\/\">initial focus<\/a> on lung nodules that can lead to lung cancer. Since then, it has expanded to include incidental findings of pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer, thoracic aortic aneurysms, and abdominal aortic aneurysms.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>An abdominal aortic aneurysm incidental finding with serious consequences<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Erwee\u2019s aneurysm was right next to the arteries that branch off to the kidneys, where a man\u2019s abdominal aorta typically has a diameter of less than an inch. Erwee\u2019s had ballooned to nearly three inches across. An aneurysm like that has a 30% chance of rupturing within a year, Kissell estimates.<\/p>\n<p>If it does, that\u2019s often a death sentence. More than half of people who experience an abdominal aneurysm like this die before they get to a hospital. Even the patients who make it to the hospital face tough odds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can save half of the people who live long enough to get to an OR,\u201d Kissell said.<\/p>\n<p>In Erwee\u2019s case, a ruptured aneurysm next to the kidney arteries would have required major open surgery. That leaves a typical patient with just a 10% chance of survival, she said.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Minimally invasive surgery takes the pressure off an abdominal aortic aneurysm<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Because Erwee\u2019s abdominal aorta was stretched out but still intact, there was a much better option: a synthetic sleeve which Kissell would, via small incisions near the groin and a catheter, slide into the ballooned section of aorta to take the pressure off the surrounding artery. This <a id=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cookmedical.com\/aortic-intervention\/zenith-home\/zenith-fenestrated-aaa-endovacular-graft\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fenestrated endovascular graft<\/a> would be customized to fit Erwee\u2019s anatomy, so it would take four to six weeks to arrive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was told to take it very easy and not strain to avoid it bursting,\u201d Erwee said.<\/p>\n<p>On July 14, the graft had arrived, and Kissell implanted it. Erwee was back home the next day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s doing great,\u201d Kissell said.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>A safety net for incidental findings on a growing number of medical scans<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Eon\u2019s ability to detect abdominal aortic aneurysms went live in UCHealth\u2019s hospitals in metro Denver and Northern Colorado in October 2025, a few months before the Southern Colorado rollout. Since then, the Eon tool has detected and led to monitoring or care for 1,300 patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms, Vasquez said.<\/p>\n<p>The system has done the same for an additional 3,000 metro Denver and Northern Colorado UCHealth patients with thoracic aortic aneurysms. Those aneurisms happen in the same artery, but higher in the chest. Eon\u2019s thoracic aortic aneurysm-specific capability is rolling out in UCHealth\u2019s Southern Colorado hospitals this month, Vasquez says.<\/p>\n<p>Even without Eon, the number of scans involved with Erwee\u2019s cancer care likely would have brought the abdominal aortic aneurysm into focus, Kissell said. And in this case, she added, \u201cMr. Erwee\u2019s surgical oncologist grabbed me in the surgeon\u2019s lounge to personally refer the patient while the Eon system was sending his info in the background, like a safety net.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not all patients have been so lucky. Kissell said she and colleagues who do surgeries on ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms have gone back into patient records to find scans, some of them years old, showing incidental-finding aneurysms that went unnoticed.<\/p>\n<p>Erwee considers himself fortunate not to have been among them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m very glad they found it,\u201d he said. \u201cVery glad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Willem \u201cGeorge\u201d Erwee, a 68-year-old retired electrician from Colorado Springs, went in for a scan for suspected rectal cancer, and a detection tool flagged something much more dangerous. The scan confirmed Erwee\u2019s rectal cancer. The smart system, called Eon, also picked up an aneurysm in Erwee\u2019s abdominal aorta, a major blood vessel that sustains abdominal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":94191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[28,3512,3273,277],"class_list":["post-94184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovative-care","tag-cancer-care-oncology","tag-heart-and-vascular-care-cardiovascular","tag-innovative-medical-technologies","tag-metro-denver"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.5 (Yoast SEO v28.5) - 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