SUDDEN DEATH CAN BE A FIRST (AND ONLY) SYMPTOM. In 30% of people who have a heart attack or stroke the first symptom is sudden death. Finding those at-risk people to aggressively treat and prevent cardiovascular events is difficult. 50% of people with an acute heart attack have normal cholesterol levels, so the usual routine lab tests are not enough. A recent study presented in Quebec suggested that million dollars in healthcare costs could be saved from preventing heart attacks and strokes if doctors used a more accurate screening strategy to identify high-risk patients before the occurrence of a cardiovascular event. Multimarker Inflammatory testing detects 37-43% more at-risk patients than would have been identified through checking levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol alone, a 2013 study by Dr. Marc Penn (of the Cleveland Heart Lab) and MDVIP (the leader in personalized primary care) found. The multimarker inflammatory test research was published last year in Future Cardiology. ” With these tests, we can find out if seemingly healthy patients are actually at high risk for heart attack or stroke. Adding routine inflammatory testing to standard cholesterol takes prevention to the next level at very low cost, with a potentially enormous saving in both money and lives” says Dr. Penn. This combined screening approach is known as multimarker testing and typically includes a combination of myeloperoxidase (MPO), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and Lp-PLA2-test (the PLAC test). Having high MPO blood levels was the single strongest predictor of heart attack risk in the 2013 MDVIP/CHL study because it indicates a high likelihood of the most dangerous kind of plaque in the arteries, inflamed plaque at risk for complete blockage of an artery. High levels of hsCRP have been linked to triple the risk of heart attacks compared to people with normal levels. The PLAC test can also predict the presence of high risk, dangerous plaque. In my MDVIP practice I routinely screen patients with multimarker inflammatory tests and have been successful in finding and treating high risk cardiovascular disease in patients who were previously undiagnosed and thought they were healthy. Please contact me if you’d like more information or have questions.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 23:54:29 +0000
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