News at LifeScore® - 2005
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December 13 , 2005
- Dr. C. Michael Wright, founder and medical director of
the LifeScore Clinic, has just received notification of successfully
passing the first board exam ever given for Clinical Lipidology.
He is now a Diplomate of the American Board of Clinical
Lipidology and Board Certified in Clinical Lipidology (90 physicians
sat for the inaugural exam). He is the only physician in San Diego
with this distinction. Clinical Lipidology is the specialty concerned
with disorders of lipid metabolism (cholesterol and triglycerides).
Requirements for being eligible to sit for the exam
included a faculty position at a medical school, board certified in
Internal Medicine and/or Cardiology, and over 120 hours of lipid-directed
continuing medical education (Dr. Wright completed 180 hours in the
six months prior to the exam). 
Click here for more
information (PDF)
December 13 , 2005 - The
LifeScore Clinic and UCSD School of Medicine have had 2 abstracts
accepted for the American Heart Association’s 46th Annual Conference
on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention scheduled for
March 2-5, 2006 at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in Phoenix,
Arizona.
The abstracts are titled Renal Artery Calcium is
Significantly Associated with Vascular and Valvular Calcification
and Renal Artery Calcium, Blood Pressure and Hypertension.
December 13 , 2005 - The
LifeScore Clinic/UCSD abstract Renal Artery Calcium, Blood Pressure
and Hypertension has been selected as one of 5 finalist papers for
the Sandra Daugherty Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Disease
or Hypertension Epidemiology.
The winner of the award will be announced at the
46th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and
Prevention in March.
September 23, 2005. THE LIFESCORE CLINIC
PARTICIPATES WITH A BOOTH AT THE 2005 AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION HEARTWALK.
The HeartWalk saw 8000 people
descend on Balboa Park to raise money to fight heart disease. The
weather was perfect, and the mood was upbeat.
Click here
for photos (PDF)
September 10, 20005. MAJOR STUDY DEMONSTRATES
THE POWER OF HEARTSCORE IN PREDICTING RISK IN YOUNG PEOPLE.
Appearing in the 6/6/05 issue of the Journal of
the American College of Cardiology, the study followed 2000 people
with an average age of 43 at the time of enrollment. It compared the
ability of standard risk factor assessment to coronary artery calcium
for predicting future risk.
Over the three year course of the study, nine acute
coronary events occured. All occured in people with low risk as measured
by standard risk factors. None of the standard risk factor-determined
moderate or high risk patients had an adverse coronary event. seven
of the nine who had coronary events had coronary calcium. Thus, having
coronary calcium increased risk by 1200% (12-fold increase in risk).
THIS STUDY DRAMATICALLY ILLUSTRATES THAT IN A RELATIVELY
YOUNG GROUP, CORONARY ARTERY CALCIUM IS THE ONLY TOOL ABLE TO CORRECTLY
IDENTIFY THOSE AT HIGH SHORT-TERM (3 YEAR) RISK FOR A HEART ATTACK!
Click
here to download article (PDF)
September 7,
2005. The cover story in the September 5, 2005 issue of Time magazine
is entitled HOW TO STOP A HEART ATTACK BEFORE IT HAPPENS.
The
article presents many of the new scanning techniques that can detect
early signs of disease. LifeScore’s HeartScore test (for coronary
calcium) and non-invasive angiogram are both discussed at length.
The article does have an error- it says a contrast injection is necessary
for the calcium score- of course, no injections are needed. The test
is completely noninvasive.
Click
here to download
artice
(PDF)
August 12, 2005. The LifeScore Clinic
with UCSD Medical School has published the first study looking at
the relation of carotid artery calcium and carotid intimal medial
thickness in a non-diabetic population.
Intimal
medial thickness is an ultrasound-derived measure of plaque in the
carotid arteries. It is a predictor of both future stroke and heart
attack risk. Our study suggests that carotid artery calcium will also
be a predictor of stroke risk.
Click here
to download article (PDF)
August 12, 2005.
The July 26, 2005 issue of Circulation contains an important study
on coronary calcification in the elderly.
The authors point out that
standard risk factors tend to lose their predictive value in the elderly.
In fact, in their population, a high risk factor score only conferred
a 0.6 fold increase in risk compared with a low or intermediate risk
factor score. In contrast, a high coronary calcification score was
associated with up to a 10-fold increase in risk (range 3.2-10.3,
depending on score and risk factor profile).
THUS, THIS STUDY SUGGESTS
THAT ONLY CORONARY CALCIFICATION IS A USEFUL TOOL FOR RISK ASSESSMENT
IN AN ELDERLY POPULATION, ALTHOUGH IT'S USEFULNESS IS IMPROVED IN
CONJUNCTION WITH RISK FACTOR ANALYSIS. .
Click
here to download article (PDF)
July 14, 2005. The largest prospective study yet
on EBT-measured coronary calcium appeared
in the current (vol.46,
no.1, 2005) issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Authored
by Dr. Arad and associates,
the St. Francis Heart Study included
4,903 patients followed for 4.3 years. The study
results showed that EBT calcium scoring is
the most accurate way to determine risk of future heart disease-related
events, such as a heart attack or
death.
It was more powerful
than both standard
risk factors and C-reactive protein (the marker
for inflammation which is
associated with heart disease risk). For
every category of risk determined by risk factors, the coronary calcium score improves
risk prediction.
THESE RESULTS
AGAIN CONFIRM THAT MEASURING CALCIUM AS A MARKER FOR
ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN THE CORONARY
ARTERIES IS THE BEST WAY TO DIAGNOSE ASYMPTOMATIC HEART DISEASE AND
INTIATE APPROPRIATE TREATMENT!
Click here to download
artic
(PDF)
July 12, 2005. A New York Times columnist
undergoes a heart scan and
describes the experience in today's issue.
The
writer has had high cholesterol all his life (most recently
380). He has always feared heart disease. He had both a coronary
artery calcium scan, and,
at the same time, a non-invasive
angiogram. The results showed minimal plaque in the arteries and no narrowed
arteries.
NOT EVERYONE
WITH HIGH CHOLESTEROL HAS HEART DISEASE!
SCANNING THE ARTERIES
TELLS YOU WHETHER HIGH CHOLESTEROL IS DANGEROUS
FOR YOU!
Click here to download
artic
(PDF)
July 1, 2005. The LifeScore Clinic is proud to
continue its association with Dr. Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, Professor and Chair, Department
of Family and Preventive
Medicine at UCSD Medical School.
Dr.
Barrett-Connor is now studying coronary artery calcium and EBT-measured
visceral fat in follow-up
measurements of a cohort of subjects form the Rancho Bernardo Study
who underwent
an initial scan 3 years ago. Dr.
Barrett-Connor is world-renowned for her work on cardiovascular disease,
women and health, epidemiology and many other areas.
June 22, 2005 - The June 7th issue of
Circulation contains
an interesting article on
the use of EBT coronary calcium scoring.
Researchers analyzed data from the National Heart,
Lung and Blood Institute Family Heart Study on the relationship between
dietary intake of linolenic acid (plant-based omega-3 fatty acid)
and coronary plaque as measured with EBT coronary calcium. Those who
consumed the most linolenic acid had 65% less plaque in their arteries.
The authors conjectured that the beneficial effect
may be mediated by the well-known anti-inflammatory properties of
omega-3 fatty acids. Linolenic acid also has a beneficial effect on
blood pressure and triglycerides.
Click here to
read the article
June 20, 2005 - Dr. Michael Wright appeared
this evening on channel 19 television on the show
'Powerful People of San Diego"
The subject for the evening discussion was heart
disease. Also present was Dr. Anthony DeMaria, chief of cardiology
at UCSD Medical Center, and Jack White, founder of Jack White Discount
Brokerage.
Mr. White has donated funding to the city for upgrading
the electrocardiogram machines in all the ambulances. He did this
as a result of his experience one night when he awoke with chest pain
and the electrocardiogram did not diagnose his condition. He subsequently
learned that the ambulances carried an inferior type of electrocardiograph.
The lively discussion touched on many important topics related to
preventing and treating cardiovascular disease.
Mr. White had previously been to the LifeScore Clinic,
and so realized that he was at higher risk for a heart attack, and
convinced the paramedics to bring him to UCSD, where his life was
saved through the timely efforts of Dr. Sam Tsimikas, who successfully
opened and placed a stent in the closed coronary artery responsible
for the heart attack.
May 1, 2005. The LifeScore Clinic, in scientific
partnership with the UCSD School of Medicine, is presenting two posters
at the 45th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease, Epidemiology
and Prevention.
One
poster discusses the relationship between valvular and vascular calcification,
while the other analyzes the relationship between various lipid parameters
and vascular calcification.
Click
here to learn more about the conference.
February 27, 2005 - The February 15, 2005 issue
of The International Journal of Cardiology contains an article by
Dr. Matthew Allison and Dr. C. Michael Wright entitled "Age and
Gender are the Strongest Clinical Correlates of Prevalent Coronary
Calcification."
The article discusses data from over 6000 patients
seen at the LifeScore Clinic. The article clearly demonstrates the
importance of measuring coronary calcium to determine risk, because
of the relatively low predictive value of the traditional risk factors.
Click
here to read the article (PDF)
January 13, 2005 - January edition of the LifeScore
newsletter, "News/Notes" released.
The lead story is titled "A Look at President
Bush’s Recent Medical Assessment"
Click
here to download a copy (PDF file)
January 2005 - The LifeScore Clinic is proud to
present it's signature HealthScore Nutrition Program supplements.
This blood test provides the most accurate measurement
of the quantity of dangerous cholesterol particles in the blood, and
also reports their size. It provides an excellent tracking tool for
measuring response to treatment, and is far superior to standard cholesterol
testing. CALL TO SCHEDULE YOUR TEST TODAY!
Click here for
more information
Click here
to download a PDF version
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