The first male-only screening service run by the NHS in Scotland - to spot potentially lethal abdominal aortic aneurysms - will begin in 2011, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon announced yesterday.

Although the condition is not exclusive to men it is much more common than in women, and around 170 lives are expected to be saved every year as a result of being picked up in time.

The programme will cost £5m over the next three years to set up and £2.5m a year to run.

An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a swelling in one of the main arteries from the heart caused by a weak spot. Stretching the vessel wall can lead in time to a rupture with catastrophic blood loss. Without rapid access to surgery the patient is doomed, and even an emergency operation may not save them.

As The Herald revealed in February, all 65-year-old men will be offered an ultrasound scan to detect the aneurysm. If one is found, the patient will be referred for treatment. Even elective surgery has a degree of risk, so if the swelling isn't too far advanced the patient will be regularly monitored.

The operation involves replacing the damaged section of artery with a length of fibre tubing about 22mm in diameter, using a technique pioneered by William Reid at Glasgow Royal Infirmary with fabric obtained from a London shirtmaker.

Ms Sturgeon said: "Abdominal aortic aneurysms are a hidden killer which mainly affect older men, most of whom will be unaware that they have the condition. Sadly, the first sign of a problem for many men will be when the aneurysm ruptures and, by that time, it's often too late.

"But a simple 10-minute scan can detect the aneurysm, enabling treatment to begin and saving hundreds of lives each year. That's why the Scottish Government has decided to introduce a national screening programme - our first male-only screening programme - which will start in 2011."

Nearly 8% of men and 1.3% of women aged 65 to 80 carry an AAA. Men already over 65 - and up to the age of 74 - will be able to self-refer for screening, Ms Sturgeon said.

A three-year pilot in NHS Highland and NHS Western Isles, which started in 2001, provided vital experience in how to screen for AAA.

Screening for aneurysms has been under discussion since before the early 1990s, and more than 3000 Scots who could have been saved have died since then. However the programme requires resources, to provide not only the scans but the surgery or further monitoring for cases which are positive.

Among those who have succumbed to aortic aneurysms recently is Humphrey Lyttelton, the jazz musician and host of the popular Radio Four comic game show I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue, who died in hospital in April.