Hidden Heart-Attack Risks (PART 3) ~ Bloggerin Info

ULTRAFAST scanning of coronary arteries has been used clinically now for about seven years. Proponents say that scanners are capable of spoting trouble long before an angiogram. The test also can motivate people to lower their risk.

Take Frank Ward, a Chicago contractor who was nearing 50 when he heard a radio advertisement for the test at the University of Illinois. Although Ward had moderately high Cholesterol, he considered himself healthy. But he decided the CAT scan would be a great way to persuade his overweight business partner, Dave, to pay attention to his health.

"All I had to do was lie on a table for 15 minutes," Ward remembers. "But when the report came back, I thought they'd given me Dave's results by mistake."

Ward's calcium reading was 392, far too high. His hefty partner's score: a much more acceptable 17. An angiogram revealed an 85-per-cent obstruction near Ward's aorta. He underwent angioplasty and had a stent inserted, and today is doing well on cholesterol medication.

Leg Blockages

Doctors can get information about a patient's arteries just by adding an extra step to a routine blood-pressure test: taking a blood-pressure reading around the ankle. The ankle reading is divided by the arm reading. Any number equal to or below 0.9 is a danger sign.

The aim is to detect blockages in leg arteries, a sign that trouble may be brewing in the coronary arteries. Some people with leg-vessel obstructions have pain when they walk and get relief at rest. "But half the patients have no pain, Dr. Michael Criqui at the University of California, San Diego.

The test seems to be a powerful predictor of life-span. Criqui, who studied 565 people age 66 or above, found that over a ten-year period, those with an ankle/arm index of 0.8 or less were five times likelier to die of cardiovascular disease than people with a higher index. Such patients can be given the appropriate treatment, including cholesterol-lowering drugs, anti-hypertensis or surgery.

ON THE HORIZON, researchers are looking into a blood test to measure C-reactive protein, a substance indicating inflammation of blood-vessel walls. This test derives from the new theory that inflammation--possibly as a result of chronic microbial infection-contributes to the clogging of arteries. If this is true, it raises the prospect of treating heart disease with antibiotics and vaccines.

Another new approach to heart attack prevention is gene testing. "Of some 100 different risk factors that may pave the way for coronary-artery disease, many are genes or environmental components that interact with genes," says Dr. Roger Williams of the University of Utah School of Medicine. As, scientist identify these genes, we'll detect the ones that increase heart-attack risk, and then scan people's DNA to learn who need who needs treatment."

Should you be tested for any of these hidden heart-attack risks? Today the tests are available to most people, but they can be expensive. "Patients should discuss this with their doctors," advises Dr. Phillip Greenland, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Chicago's Northwestern University Medical School.

All five test are available in some parts of Asia, including Singapore and Hongkong. For more information, have your doctor contact a university medical center with a high risk or preventive-cardiology section. Or visit the American Heart Association's website at www.amhrt.org or HeartInfo, an independent educational Web site co-founded by Dr. Rader, at www.heartinfo.org