February is American Heart month.
Did you know that for many,
the first symptom of heart
disease is a heart attack.
You can minimize your risk by
doing things like controlling
cholesterol and blood pressure,
but those factors don't
always tell the whole story.
There's a way to take an up
close look at your heart,
specifically the arteries that
supply blood to your heart,
and you can do it in about the time
it will take you to watch this story.
These
machines are the best that
I'm able to work with at
any of the facilities that I work at.
Courtney is the technician.
She says they conduct on average
between 15 and 20 of these heart
screening xrays per day here at
the Heart Hospital of Austin.
It's also known as the heartsaver CT. Go
ahead and lie down on your back for me.
The procedure itself really
couldn't be any simpler.
You don't have to put on a gown.
You don't even have to take off your shoes.
You lay down on the machine on your
back with your hands above your head.
The technician will then attach four leads.
I'll try to put them where I don't have
to give you too much of a wax job now.
There is radiation here.
It's an X ray after all,
so you're in the room all by yourself.
And this is also why it's not a good idea
to have this procedure done frequently.
Once you're moved into position,
there are verbal instructions to in fact,
the first hold your breath.
This takes
about 5 seconds. Prep and hold it. Then about
a minute later, another instruction
to hold your breath again.
This one lasts about 10 seconds,
and that's it. Testcomplete,
alright Mr Maze, we are all done.
You did a fantastic job for me
that was easy on a normal visit.
You will wait a few days to get
the results in the mail as it takes
to doctors time to evaluate each X ray.
I was lucky enough to have Doctor
Viveka Swami there to show us
exactly what my heart X ray showed
over. Essentially looking for.
Is this cholesterol.
Plaques that can build up in
the arteries that give blood
supply to the heart when that
plaque gets chronic or old,
it can calcify,
and these scanners are very
sensitive for detecting that
calcium in the heart arteries.
Now I have a history of
heart disease in my family.
I take medication for high blood
pressure and to maintain my cholesterol
I've got less than stellar eating
habits and a few extra elbs,
so I was a bit nervous.
This is your aorta, the main
artery coming off of the heart.
If you look here, so that's your.
Left main coronary artery,
so this is one of the major
arteries coming off that actually
gives blood supply to the heart
that's sometimes referred to as the
widow maker. You might have heard
of this calcium buildup. There
can be deadly today though.
My reports is a good one.
Not much going on here
which is a good thing.
Now it's not magic and quite frankly it's
not as thorough of a test
as a coronary angiogram.
That's where dye is injected into your heart.
Arteries and chambers for a closer look.
That test is much more invasive.
The heart scan I had is a great
tool and is very good at detecting
potential serious issues with
your heart or letting you know
that for now things look good.
Historically with heart disease,
I think we've had it wrong because we've
been screening for the risk factors,
not necessarily the disease,
so that's why I consider this almost
like a mammogram of the heart.
So when people are feeling fine
and they're in their 40s and and
and everything is great, I think.
That is the high yield time to make
sure we're not forming the stuff
early 'cause we can catch it early.
There are things we could do to break
the natural progression of disease.
The heartsaver CT which I had at the
Heart Hospital of Austin costs $99.00.
That includes the doctors interpretation
and you'll get that evaluation in the
mail about a week after your X ray.
In fact, I got mine in the mail today.
Men ages 40 to 65 women 45 to 70
with certain risk factors like a
family history of heart disease,
high cholesterol, high blood pressure,
all of which I had a history of smoking.
Also diabetes,
overweight and active lifestyle,
obstructive sleep apnea.
All recommended.
Well, this screening I'll put the
phone number in this story at
kview.com if you'd like to schedule
an appointment in the future.