Heart screening makes sense

The heart is the central organ that keeps us alive. It pumps blood through the body without rest and performs at its best every day. But today's lifestyle carries many risks, such as stress or lack of exercise, and is detrimental to heart health. The coronary arteries can constrict without the affected person noticing. Dangerous consequences of this are a heart attack, cardiac arrhythmias or heart failure.

Damage to the heart can be detected early with cardiac screening. This makes it possible to initiate treatment and save lives. Find out here which examinations are useful.

What is cardiac screening?

Screening examinations in medicine aim to detect diseases at an early stage before a life-threatening situation develops for those affected. Coronary heart disease, also known as CHD, often manifests itself in the form of pain or a feeling of tightness in the chest. These symptoms are also known as angina pectoris. In almost half of those affected, however, these early symptoms are absent altogether. This is where cardiac screening comes into play as a preventive examination.

During the cardiac check-up, the health and function of the heart as well as possible risk factors are checked using various examination methods.

Why is a heart health check-up worthwhile?

Around 45% of those affected by coronary heart disease are unaware of their health problems. In two out of three women, the first sign of narrowed coronary arteries is even sudden death. Patients with diabetes also have few symptoms of heart problems. All of these particularly at-risk individuals are detected early with cardiac screening and can begin therapy in time.

This has the following advantages:

• Heart attacks or other harmful consequences for the heart can be prevented
• Further clarifications of heart health are possible
• Unfounded concerns about heart health can be put to rest

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What are the coronary artery disease (CAD) screenings?

The discussion with the doctor forms the basis of the heart screening. Possible risk factors for heart health such as smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, lack of exercise, diabetes, stress, genetic factors, high cholesterol and age are assessed.

The following examination methods are available, which are used in cardiology (specialty for the heart):

• ECG (electrocardiogram) and exercise ECG

Imaging:

• Heart ultrasound (echocardiography)
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Vascular imaging with computed tomography (CTA)
• SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography)
• PET (positron emission tomography)

New examination method

• Cardio Explorer (artificial intelligence blood test)

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Why is exercise ECG no longer recommended as screening for coronary artery disease?

A good screening test must have two characteristics:

• It must find as many people as possible who are ill (sensitivity)
• It should indicate that as few healthy individuals as possible are falsely ill (specificity)

Studies have shown that only about half of the people with coronary artery disease are actually detected by exercise ECG (sensitivity 45-50%). There are more sensitive methods for screening coronary artery disease.

Here you can see the accuracy of the CHD screening methods in comparison:

• Exercise ECG: 5 out of 10 ill persons correctly identified
• Cardio Explorer: 9 out of 10 diseased persons correctly identified
• CTA: 9.5 out of 10 persons with the disease correctly identified

Because of its low accuracy, exercise ECG is therefore no longer recommended as a screening method for coronary artery stenosis.

What is a stress ECG?

The stress ECG is an examination method of the heart. The electrical activity of the heart is recorded with electrodes from the chest while the person being examined is physically exercised to the limit. Usually a bicycle ergometer or a treadmill is used for this purpose.

What is the Cardio Explorer?

Cardio Explorer is a simple and reliable screening method that determines your risk of coronary artery disease. The test takes 15-30 minutes and you will receive the results within 24 hours.

Cardio Explorer requires the following information and examinations for the evaluation:

• Blood collection
• Personal details of the interview by the doctor or physician (age, gender, lifestyle and medications).
• Blood pressure measurement

Cardio Explorer takes your data into account and uses artificial intelligence to calculate your personal risk of coronary heart disease. As proven in three patient studies, Cardio Explorer provides reliable results regardless of gender.

Depending on how high your risk is for narrowing of the coronary vessels, further clarification by a specialist in cardiology is necessary. If the risk is very high, a cardiac catheter examination is recommended, during which a narrowing in the vessels can be repaired.

Would you like to have a heart screening with the Cardio Explore?

Make an appointment with one of the medical partners at:

www.cardioexplorer-checkup.com

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