|
|
WE ARE PLEASED TO OFFER OUR PATIENTS THE FOLLOWING NEW PROACTIVE, PREVENTATIVE HEALTH SCREENING TOOLS:
“ARTERYAGE” SCREENING, BERKELEY HEARTLAB ADVANCED CARDIOMETABOLIC SCREENING LABS, AND NEW GENERATION ADULT TETANUS VACCINES THAT HAVE DIPTHERIA AND PERTUSSIS (“WHOOPING COUGH”) VACCINES INCLUDED!
Artery Age Screening
Statistics show that TWO OUT OF THREE unexpected cardiac deaths occur with no prior symptoms. A simple Artery Age screening at our office can stop unexpected heart attacks by providing critical information you need to take action. Artery Age screenings are safe, fast, highly accurate, and have been cleared by the FDA. This innovative screening system is inexpensive, non-invasive and will tell you where you stand.
Developed by leading cardiologists, the Artery Age system uses a simple carotid ultrasound measurement (CIMT) to generate the true age of an individual’s artery system. While a patient may chronologically only be forty years old, their Artery Age could indicate that of a seventy-five year old and getting this information to them can be the difference between life and death.
What is an Artery Age Screening?
The Artery Age screening measures your CIMT (carotid intima-media thickness). The screening consists of a standardized ultrasound procedure that enables us to safely and non-invasively screen for and monitor atherosclerosis (the underlying cause of heart attack and stroke), even in individuals with no symptoms of heart disease.
Artery Age is a convenient, safe, painless and precise technique for measuring the thickness of the first two layers of the carotid artery located in the neck, the very site where atherosclerosis develops. Wall thickening is the earliest anatomical manifestation of atherosclerosis and heart disease.
Why is knowing my Artery Age Important?
- About every 26 seconds, an American will suffer a heart attack or stroke, and about every minute someone will die from one.
- 50% of men and 64% of women who die suddenly of heart disease have no previous symptoms of this disease.
- Many individuals who develop heart disease have normal cholesterol levels and lack other biomarkers (indicators) of risk.
- CIMT testing motivates you to partner with our office in decreasing your risk for a heart attack or stroke. While age, genes, and a family history of heart disease are risk factors beyond your control, you can alter a high-fat diet and lack of exercise, for instance.
- CIMT can be reduced. It measures how lifestyle modifications and therapeutic interventions can decrease your risk of heart disease.
- Research has proven heart disease can be reversed. CIMT testing can help you and your doctor with this process.
- CIMT testing is a new procedure. It may or may not be reimbursed by your insurance. Even if not, it is still available to you at an affordable price.
- The American Heart Association (AHA) and Adult Treatment Panel of the National Cholesterol Education Program (ATP III) recognize CIMT as a valid, reliable, safe, and noninvasive means for assessing subclinical vascular disease that can be used to further assess a patient’s risk for heart disease.
Berkeley HeartLab
|
Beyond the basics: Cholesterol Subclasses
We now know that cholesterol can be broken down beyond just LDL and HDL. Within both LDL and HDL, there exist particles that vary in their characteristics and therefore in their risk (in the case of LDL) and protective (in the case of HDL) factors for CAD. A much better assessment of CAD risk is achieved by enlarging the spectrum of testing to include additional disorders, such as a predominance of small particles within the LDL family (small LDL trait), and low levels of HDL2b, the most heart-protective type of HDL. |
|
This more comprehensive approach can point to treatment that differs from traditional therapy and is more effective in slowing, halting, or reversing the progression of CAD.
|
|
LDL particles contribute to the harmful buildup of fat inside artery walls, a process called atherosclerosis. The LDL particles contribute to atherosclerosis partly by slipping through the spaces between the cells of the artery0-wall lining and unloading their cargoes of cholesterol inside the wall. LDL particles floating in the blood of the same person vary in size and small particles penetrate the artery wall with relative ease! Making matters worse, they are also more susceptible to oxidation, a chemical process that intensifies the atherosclerotic activity of LDL.
|
|
People with a predominance of small LDL particles have an increased risk of developing CAD and suffering a heart attack. The small LDL trait is found in 50% of men and postmenopausal women, and in 30% of pre-menopausal women with CAD. The small LDL trait is also present in 50% of their first-degree relatives, who may or may not have CAD symptoms.
|
|
HDL particles, on the other hand, inhibit atherosclerosis in part by carrying cholesterol out of the arterial wall and, the liver, via the circulation, which can dispose of it. The process is called reverse cholesterol transport. HDL2b is the most active of all the HDL particles in such transport. The more HDL2b you have the better!
|
Tetanus, Diptheria and Pertussis (“whooping cough”)Vaccine
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at its recent meeting (October 26 and 27) in Atlanta, voted to recommend that adults from 19 to 64 years of age be vaccinated with a newly licensed adult booster tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine (Tdap).
Under the ACIP recommendation, the Tdap vaccine would replace the currently recommended tetanus-diphtheria vaccine that is used as the adult booster vaccine. The new vaccine helps protect adults from pertussis, an illness with severe and prolonged cough. It also reduces the risk of transmitting pertussis to infants.
Pertussis affects an estimated 600,000 adults every year, aged 20 to 64 years, and can result in weeks of coughing, cracked ribs from severe coughing spells, pneumonia, and other complications.
|
