Do you know the #1 cause of death in America?

Heart disease continues to be the number on killer of all Americans. Despite our recent advances in understanding the formation of blockages and our improved medical technology, we have had little success in stemming the tide since the mid 1930's.

Our cholesterol is the cause of plaque or fatty deposits within the walls of our blood vessels. Blood cholesterol levels are determined mostly by family history, but can be influenced to some extend by lifestyle (i.e. diet and exercise patterns). Interestingly, our understanding of a "Heart Healthy" diet continues to change. Radically. In the late 1970's, it was thought that dietary fat raises bad cholesterol (LDL) and LDL caused heart disease. Therefore dietary fat caused heart disease. We now know this to be false. Dietary fat raises LDL, but not all bad cholesterol is "bad". When dietary fat is eaten, our bodies produce a large and fluffy LDL particle. This large LDL is NOT able to pass into the blood vessel wall and therefore will not begin to form a blockage formation. Instead, when dietary carbohydrates and sugars are consumed a "small and dense" LDL cholesterol particle is formed. These particles can and do penetrate into the blood vessel wall and cause plaque formation. Therefore it is the sugar and excessive carbohydrates that lead to heart disease, not dietary consumption of fat.

Once plaque is formed, it creates inflammation. When plaque becomes severely inflamed it can rupture. During this process, the contents of the blood vessel wall spill into the opening of the artery (i.e. the lumen) and a clot forms. This process is called an Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS), better known as a heart attack.

In order to prevent plaque formation and heart attack, not only do cholesterol quantities need to be measured, but cholesterol qualities need to be as well. The presence of excessive small dense bad cholesterol particles is a significant risk factor. In fact, over 50% of people who have heart attacks have "normal" cholesterol levels (that is until the cholesterol particle sizes are measured).

At Lewis Family Medicine and Urgent Care (#LFMUC) our primary goal is disease prevention. The most effective tool we have against this is to promote a healthy lifestyle. When we see patients for wellness evaluation, it is our priority to address all health issues and perform preventative screening. We have the latest technology in order to do so. We have been implementing Advanced Cholesterol Testing for years and this type of blood test, when paired with other techniques such as a Coronary Calcium Score (quick CAT Scan of the heart to look for early blockages) gives us the ability to detect the very early signs of heart disease before it becomes a problem.

Once the early signs of blockages are detected, a directed therapy plan can be devised using lifestyle modification, supplements and medication which not only stops the profession of heart disease but can, in fact, reverse the development of plaque.

Facts:

These are newer labs based on newer technologies than the average fasting lipid panel.
These tests can detect inflammation of the plaque/arteries of the heart with specific markers identifying increased risk of heart attack.
These tests are more expensive.We do not set the prices of these advanced labs they merely provide this service to our office. These lab fees are negotiated between the lab and your insurance company based on the contract that they negotiated. We are not a party in this agreement and have no control over the coverage.
It is our policy and desire to inform patients about costs they may incur in regards to these labs. However, it is impossible for us to know exactly what each patient will owe since each insurance company has their own negotiated fees.
We can order these tests from a blood draw done in office without having to send patients out to fight the crowds at the labs.
Our fee for the blood draw costs approximately $3 paid by all major medical insurance carriers.
There are benefits to both in and out of network.
If there is ever a billing discrepancy involving the laboratory, we will work to correct this issue with the patient and laboratory. In the past, the labs we use have been very cooperative in resolving these issues.