Aortic Aneurysms

How to Get Disability Benefits for an Aortic Aneurysm by Meeting a Listing

To determine whether you are disabled at Step 3 of the Sequential Evaluation Process, the Social Security Administration will consider whether the threat posed by your aortic aneurysm is severe enough to meet or equal the aortic aneurysm listing. The Social Security Administration has developed rules called Listing of Impairments for most common impairments. The listing for a particular impairment describes a degree of severity that Social Security Administration presumes would prevent a person from performing substantial work. If the threat posed by your aortic aneurysm is severe enough to meet or equal the listing, you will be considered disabled.

The listing for aortic aneurysms is listing 4.10. To satisfy the listing, you must have a medically diagnosed aneurysm of the aorta or major branches due to any cause (e.g., atherosclerosis, cystic medial necrosis, Marfan syndrome, trauma), demonstrated by an appropriate imaging technique, with dissection not controlled by prescribed medical or surgical treatment.

Meeting Social Security Administration Listing 4.10 for Aortic Aneurysms

The listing requires a dissecting aneurysm that has not been controlled with surgery or medication. An aneurysm (or bulge in the aorta or one of its major branches) is dissecting when the inner lining of the artery begins to separate from the arterial wall. The SSA considers the dissection not controlled when you have persistence of chest pain due to progression of the dissection, an increase in the size of the aneurysm, or compression of one or more branches of the aorta supplying the heart, kidneys, brain, or other organs.

Although CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging can be used to non-invasively follow the size of abdominal aneurysms over time, abdominal ultrasound is a more reasonable and cost-effective test, as well as safe. Sometimes a claimant with no medical records is found to have a possible aortic aneurysm on physical examination purchased by the SSA. In these cases, the SSA is obligated to obtain an abdominal aortic ultrasound unless the claim can be otherwise favorably determined.

An aneurysm with dissection can cause heart failure, renal (kidney) failure, or neurological complications. If you have an aneurysm that does not meet the requirements of this listing and you have one or more of these associated conditions, the SSA will evaluate the condition(s) using the appropriate listing.

Continue to Residual Functional Capacity Assessment for Aortic Aneurysms.

Go back to About Aortic Aneurysms and Disability.