Your cholesterol, an EKG
or stress test will not detect hidden plaque
lining your coronary arteries. Cholesterol
is just a blood fat that is one among many
causes of coronary plaque, and provides
an indirect measure of the likelihood of
heart disease. You can have a heart attack
with low cholesterol. You can also have
high cholesterol and survive to the age
of 95 without ever having heart
disease.
EKG's only show a heart attack while it's
in progress or much after the fact. Stress
tests are a measure of blood flow to the
heart, abnormal only when flow is substantially
reduced. Blockages that occupy 80-90% of
the diameter of arteries, for instance,
would be detectable on a stress test. The
problem is that 90% of people with hidden
coronary plaque will have entirely normal
stress tests, yet are still at risk for
heart
attack. In fact, most of the people fated
to suffer a heart attack in the next year
have normal stress tests. So how can you
detect and measure hidden coronary plaque
easily, inexpensively, and safely without
any invasive procedures?
The most important health test you can get
is a heart scan. Heart scans are simple
and inexpensive. Yet they reveal, with great
accuracy, the number one killer of men and
women in the U.S. It is a highly accurate,
simple, 30-second test that makes heart
disease detection a snap. They key is
to get your "score" before danger
sets in. The heart scan is, first and foremost,
a tool for prevention. If you know your
score, you know that a vigorous effort at
prevention is in order.
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