Many patients suffering the early and intermediate stages of atherosclerosis show no outward signs or symptoms of the disease.

As many as 50% of those who died from coronary artery disease (CAD), had no prior signs or symptoms.

As many as 50% of those who died from CAD had cholesterol levels that met current guidelines.

What if . . .

•  You could look inside your arteries to see if they were covered in plaque?

•  You could not only see the atherosclerotic burden, but could also predict your risk of experiencing a Heart Attack, Stroke, or other Ischemic event.

•  You could measure the degree of inflammation in the arterial wall or the size of the plaque that may contribute to the most common cause of death in America, heart disease?

You can!

Measuring the thickness of the intima and media layers of the carotid artery wall (carotid intima-media thickness, or CIMT) is one way to assess the cardiovascular health of your patients. This non-invasive procedure gives you the ability to accurately assess disease presence, risk of events, and progression of heart disease before you have acute symptoms. This allows us to do something about it before significant plaque builds up and results in the need for surgery.

Once a person’s IMT has been precisely established, the individual risk of heart attack and stroke for that person is determined based on database analysis techniques. An individual IMT is only useful when compared against a large repository of IMT data for subjects who are similar in terms of age, gender and ethnicity. This is because atherosclerosis progresses differently for different demographics.

Measuring CIMT by Ultrasound

CIMT measurements using B-mode (brightness mode) ultrasound have been performed since the mid-1980s. Using structural B-mode ultrasound, a trained sonographer can easily and non-invasively acquire images of the carotid artery wall for analysis, typically the region immediately proximal to the bifurcation. Upon examination via ultrasound, the adventitia shows up as a bright, white layer and the blood-filled lumen shows up as a black area, allowing the clinician to isolate the area of interest in between . . . the IMT. CardioRisk's sonographers are all trained to use our patented protocol using patented software. A CardioRisk trained and experienced sonographer can complete the procedure in just under ten minutes.

Take the Cardio Risk Challenge:

We believe . . . Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Testing can save lives. 

In 2002, the American Heart Association updated their Guidelines for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke to include risk factor assessment for all individuals beginning at age 20.

While we recommend screening for all individuals, our strongest recommendation is for those individuals with one or more of the following risk factors:

• Family history of cardiovascular disease
• Smoking
• Obesity
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• High LDL cholesterol level
• Low HDL cholesterol level
• Diabetes
• Elevated Lipoprotein (a)
• Poor eating habits
• Sedentary lifestyle

More Info 

If you'd like to have more clinical evidence on IMT and how it correlates to other risk factors, its predictive value for assessing subclinical disease, or how it is being used in current studies . . .please call