American Lung Association supports CT Lung Cancer Screening

The American Lung Association has recommended CT Lung Cancer Screening for smokers and former smokers.

Mounting evidence –  including findings from the U.S. National Cancer Institute’s National Lung Screening Trial – indicates that most lung cancer deaths can be prevented when detected at an early stage with CT screening.

CT Lung Cancer Screening is a well-studied test, with 10′s of thousands of patients scanned over the past 15+ years.  It is an “evidence-based” exam meaning that  there is consistent scientific evidence showing that the exam improves patient outcomes.  CT Lung Cancer screening is just one of the evidence-based screening exams offered at Canada Diagnostic in Vancouver.  Click here to find out more about our screening exams for the early detection of atherosclerosis and colon cancer.

If you are a smoker or former smoker, consider getting a CT Lung Cancer Screening Exam.  It may save your life.

Call us today at 1-877-709-8522.

The benefits of CT Calcium Scoring keep making news!

American Heart Association:  CT Calcium Scoring broadens heart attack risk prediction – November 2011

Lancet:  Coronary Calcium Scores are best for guiding statin therapy – August 2011

Journal of the American College of Cardiology:  MESA results confirm prognostic value of CT calcium scoring – July 2011

Journal of the American College of Cardiology:  Coronary Artery Calcium progression predicts mortality – December 2010

Journal of the American College of Cardiology:  Adding CT calcium scoring to traditional risk factors increases accuracy in determining which risk category a patient should be placed in – October 2010

If you are age 50+, consider a CT Calcium Score to help you and your doctor determine your best course of action.  Call us today at 1-877-709-8522 or email us at info@canadadiagnostic.com

 

Improve your heart disease risk

A new study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC, April 12, 2011, Vol. 57:15) found that patients who had a screening CT scan of the heart which showed evidence of calcium in their coronary arteries made important lifestyle changes that helped lower their risk of having a cardiac event in the future.

A large number of studies have now shown that a Coronary Artery Calcium Score or CACS improves assessing a patient’s actual risk factors for heart attacks.

Canada Diagnostic has been providing Coronary Artery Calcium Scores since 2002.  This exam is quick, painless and provides some very important information that just might save your life.

Interested in learning more?  Click here or give us a call at 1-877-709-8522 or 604-709-8522.

Carotid ultrasound may help predict cardiac events

April 8, 2010 – Performing ultrasound studies of carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) provides long-term prognostic value for adverse cardiac events, giving doctors important clues about who is at risk for a heart attack.

Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston examined the carotid arteries of 13,145 patients and found that about 23% of patients would be reclassified into a different risk group by adding information obtained from ultrasound assessment of CIMT to traditional risk factors used for predicting future cardiac events. Risk prediction using this approach was more accurate, and it could help better define which patients should be screened with CIMT ultrasound.

“Noninvasive ultrasound can give us a more complete snapshot of our patients’ risk, so we can do a better job determining if they’ll have a heart attack,” added study co-author Dr. Christie Ballantyne.

 

Carotid Intima-Media Thickness and Presence or Absence of Plaque Improves Prediction of Coronary Heart Disease Risk

The ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) Study

J Am Coll Cardiol, 2010; 55:1600-1607, doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2009.11.075

Give us a call to find out more about CIMT testing at Canada Diagnostic:  1-877-709-8522 or 604-709-8522.

Coronary Artery Calcium & Risk Classification/prediction

April 28, 2010 – The results for the Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  Over 6,800 patients were screened – half using traditional risk factors such as age, gender, smoking history, blood pressure, cholesterol and ethnicity.  The other half were screened for traditional risk factors, plus received a Coronary Artery Calcium scoring test.

The study concluded that adding CACS to a prediction model “significantly improved” the classification of risk.

Coronary Artery Calcium Score and Risk Classificaiton for Coronary Heart Disease Prediction

Journal of the American Medical Association   Vol 303 No. 16, April 28, 2010

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE UPDATE

Did you know?  Risk factors such as high cholesterol, overweight etc do not tell you whether you have any biological evidence of early atherosclerosis.  Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring (CACS) and Carotid Intima-media thickness (CIMT) are two screening tests that can accurately measure actual changes within your body that indicate early atherosclerosis.

Give us a call to find out more about CACS and CIMT testing at Canada Diagnostic:  1-877-709-8522 or 604-709-8522