Healthy Heart

Are You a Heart Attack Waiting to Happen?

A new book by Dr. William Davis explains how a 30-second test to gauge hidden coronary plaque can save your life.

Milwaukee, WI (December 2004)-You try to follow a heart-healthy diet, at least most of the time. (Okay, you do enjoy the occasional fast food burger, but you figure no one's perfect.) You get regular aerobic exercise. You don't smoke. You have no family history of heart disease and your doctor says your cholesterol levels are within normal limits. And the last stress test you had showed completely normal results. So you can cross "I'm at risk for a heart attack" off your list of worries . . . right?

Wrong, says cardiologist William Davis, MD, FACC. You can live a heart-healthy lifestyle, have no discernable symptoms, and still fall prey to "The Big One." In his new book, Track Your Plaque (iUniverse; 2004; ISBN: 0-595-31664-6; $19.95), Dr. Davis explains that the true predictor of a future heart attack is the amount of coronary plaque that is clogging your arteries. Here's the good news: a simple 30-second heart scan is all you need to determine whether you are at risk.

"People with low cholesterol levels and no family history or symptoms of heart disease are often left with a false sense of security that they have healthy hearts," says Davis. "Conversely, many people live in constant fear because they think their family history of heart disease or their high cholesterol makes a heart attack inevitable.

"The truth is, in 90 percent of patients who experienced a heart attack, there was an absence of symptoms such as chest pains or breathlessness, an EKG showed no prior heart attack, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol were average, and stress test results were normal," he adds. (Think Bill Clinton!) "Trying to predict whether or not you are prone to a heart attack based on these criteria is no more scientific than taking a roll of the dice with the odds heavily stacked against you."

Dr. Davis's book describes how a screening test-the CT heart scan, booming in availability nationwide-can help determine your level of risk for a heart attack by gauging the quantity of coronary plaque in your arteries.

The unsettling truth is that plaque can form years before the development of symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath. The new generation of CT heart scanners allows you to accurately measure, down to a millimeter, the quantity of plaque. You then are given a calcium score. The higher the score, the more likely you are to experience a heart attack.

"Heart scans will launch a whole new era in heart attack prevention," Davis says. "If you know your score, you know your risk. And once you know your risk you can follow the Track Your Plaque plan to seize control of heart health."

According to Davis, half of all adults have hidden coronary plaque, and 25 percent of these people have extensive, potentially life-threatening plaque. In Track Your Plaque, Davis encourages patients and providers alike to take steps to prevent heart attack. While eating a low-fat diet, exercising regularly, and not smoking are certainly good for you, adopting a healthy lifestyle won't necessarily protect you from heart disease. Davis offers a three-step program to stay heart healthy:

(1) Get a coronary calcium score with a heart scan.
There is no point pursuing a heart disease prevention program until you know your risk level. So the first step is to obtain a heart scan. If the test reveals that coronary plaque is present, even if it appears to be a relatively modest amount, you should proceed to step two.

(2) Get your lipids or lipoproteins tested.
While lipid and lipoprotein testing won't tell you whether or not you have plaque, they do help identify how the plaque started and how it continues to grow. Lipids and lipoproteins therefore identify ways to seize control of your plaque.

(3) Effectively treat the causes in order to arrest or reduce the amount of plaque you have.
Knowledge is power, Davis says. Once you know that you have plaque buildup you can start reversing the effects by formulating a program that specifically addresses your situation. While diet, exercise, cutting down on alcohol consumption, and avoiding tobacco are all part of his program, many heart disease patients also need medication and/or nutritional supplements. Davis acknowledges there are no quick fixes and that every individual is different. The key, he says, is understanding why you developed coronary plaque and addressing those specific reasons.

Unfortunately, Davis says, life-saving heart scans are underused for screening. He lays much of the blame at the feet of a medical system oriented toward fixing problems rather than preventing them.

"More than 13 million people in the U.S. are known to have coronary disease and the number with unrecognized coronary disease, people with dangerous levels of coronary plaque, is much larger," he points out. "You would think that there would be a greater emphasis on coronary plaque screening. But heart centers are big money makers for hospitals-hospital care of coronary disease is a $133 billion industry-and given that often half of total hospital revenue comes from performing heart procedures, there is a predilection toward dealing with heart disease after it occurs, rather than trying to prevent it from occurring in the first place."

Davis encourages his readers to take control of their heart health. Even if you have to pay the few dollars for a scan out of pocket-and health insurance doesn't always cover it-it is money well spent for the priceless information it provides.

"Don't wait until it is too late," urges Dr. Davis. "Every woman aged 45 and above and every man past the age of 40 should undergo a heart scan. The technology to save millions of lives is there. It is time patients started demanding access to this life-saving test."

About the Book:
Track Your Plaque (iUniverse; 2004; ISBN: 0-595-31664-6; $19.95) is available at bookstores nationwide and through online booksellers.

About the Author:
William Davis, MD, FACC, is a practicing cardiologist who is dedicated to promoting the early detection and prevention of heart disease. A noted author and lecturer, he is Medical Director of Milwaukee Heart Scan. Dr. Davis is a graduate of St. Louis University School of Medicine and obtained his training in medicine and cardiology at the Ohio State University Hospitals and Case-Western Reserve/MetroHealth Medical Centers.

For more information on how you can prevent heart disease, visit Dr. Davis' website, Heart Scan Resource Center.