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Sacramento Physician Says Medical System Leaves Women at Increased Risk of Heart Attack

Posted on: Thursday, 23 February 2006, 12:00 CST

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Newly published research from the National Institutes of Health shows that heart disease remains undetected in millions of women, leaving them at greater risk of a heart attack.(1)

Dr. Raye Bellinger of Sacramento HeartScan said the Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) Study recently revealed that nearly 3 million U.S. women with coronary heart disease are completely missed by the U.S. healthcare system. Ischemic heart disease (IHD) -- also known as coronary heart disease -- is often more difficult to detect in women because their arteries are smaller and the buildup of plaque is more evenly distributed than in men.

"For 60 percent of all women, the first sign of heart disease is a heart attack," said Bellinger. "The medical community needs to stop interfering with women's access to the latest technologies to detect and prevent heart disease, including the coronary artery screen -- or CT heart scan."

Bellinger said the U.S. health care system continues to rely on inadequate technology -- including the coronary angiogram and the traditional stress test -- to detect heart disease in women as well as men.

Though he applauds the WISE Study for raising awareness of gender discrepancies in heart disease detection, Bellinger emphasized that CT heart scans can accurately detect coronary plaque in both men and women.

Research has consistently shown that the amount of calcified plaque is an indication of the total amount of atherosclerosis (coronary artery disease). The higher the calcium score, the greater likelihood of significant coronary artery disease.

The CT heart scan measures the amount of calcified plaque in the coronary arteries and provides the patient with a coronary calcium score. Clinical studies have shown that the CT calcium score is more accurate in predicting coronary artery disease than standard risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity, diabetes and physical inactivity.

Unlike the angiogram, an invasive test that allows doctors to watch how blood flows through major arteries, the CT heart scan is non-invasive, takes only minutes, and was created specifically to detect the presence of coronary calcium -- even in the smallest of arteries.

"Individual risk factors combined with gender differences must be taken into account when diagnosing heart disease," Bellinger said. "The coronary calcium score derived from the CT heart scan combined with a patient's individual risk factors, such as family history, has been proven to be an accurate and valuable risk factor for heart disease."

Bellinger maintains that if more physicians and women were aware of CT technology, heart disease would be discovered at an earlier stage in women, potentially saving thousands of lives.

About Sacramento HeartScan

Sacramento HeartScan is part of the Sacramento Heart Center, the area's premier integrated cardiac facility, providing complete cardiology and wellness care plus a full range of diagnostic and laboratory services. Sacramento HeartScan is one of a limited number of cardiovascular centers in the United States using the GE Lightspeed Ultra for detection of disease. The new-generation 16-slice CT scanner can uncover early stages of disorders such as: heart disease, lung disease and cancer. Sacramento Heart & Vascular Medical Associates, developers of the Sacramento Heart Center, is affiliated with most health care systems in Sacramento. For more information or to make an appointment, visit http://www.sacheart.com/ct/heartscan.html or call 916-830-2009.

(1) Women and Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/meetings/workshops/wise/index.htm

Sacramento HeartScan

CONTACT: Dan Snyders of Armada Medical Marketing, +1-303-623-1190,ext. 230, dan@armadamedical.com, for Sacramento HeartScan

Web site: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/meetings/workshops/wise/index.htm

Web site: http://www.sacheart.com/ct/heartscan.html

Source: PRNewswire

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