New Imaging Technique Offers Insight Into Heart Disease Prevention

While recent medical advances have improved the ability to treat patients who have suffered heart attacks, the ultimate goal is prevention altogether. One of the major obstacles to heart attack prevention is the inability to identify the majority of patients at risk before a heart event occurs.  The usual method to identify at-risk patients is to assess their so-called “traditional” risk factors – age, family history of heart disease, and smoking. Unfortunately, assessment of risk factors alone is not enough.

Research led by cardiologist Dr. Martin Matsumura of The Heart Care Group recently found that only a quarter of first-time heart attack patients have risk factor profiles that would identify them as “high risk” for a heart event. “Obviously we need methods to better identify patients who are at risk of heart attack so we can target them for appropriate medical therapy and lifestyle changes,” says Dr. Matsumura.

A promising method of better identifying these patients is called Carotid Intima-Media Thickness assessment (CIMT).  This imaging technique uses harmless ultrasound energy to assess early disease of the arteries in the neck. CIMT has shown to correlate very well with disease in the heart arteries. The CIMT test is painless, radiation-free, and takes less than an hour to perform in the office.

“We have found that the test adds tremendously to our assessment of selected patients at The Heart Care Group. In addition, our patients seem to gain piece of mind when they see what’s going on in their blood vessels,” notes Dr. Matsumura.

To schedule a CIMT Assessment with The Heart Care Group, call 610-770-2200.