Coincidentally, Tom Petty passed away from cardiac arrest the same day my husband started watching a Netflix movie, “The Widowmaker.” That is the nickname of the left coronary artery - if it gets clogged, you die suddenly.
A lot of heart attacks occur with no warning at all, to people who look and act very fit. The point of this movie is that there are a series of tests you can have to determine your risk of having one. They’re not talking about weight plus cholesterol level plus level of exercise. They are mainly talking about a CAT scan that can detect how much clogging of vessels you have. You get a score of zero to three or four thousand. My husband immediately called our doctor to see about getting the tests - they told him he DID have a CAT scan a couple of years ago! His risk score was ZERO, which is amazing since his dad had two heart attacks as well as diabetes. DH has worked hard to stay in shape and keep his weight down. He’s 63 but looks much younger.
The bottom line is that 600,000 Americans die of cardiac arrest EACH YEAR, and it’s not necessary! The series of tests cost only a few hundred dollars. They are recommended for men after age 45 and women after age 55. I have my annual physical exam in a couple of weeks and am going to ask my doctor if I can get the tests done.
I am late 40s and had this test performed two years ago. My score was high for my age and I have a fair bit of calcification in my LAD (180). I went to the cardiologist and basically the only thing he wanted to do is put me on a statin and an aspirin (My stomach cannot tolerate the aspirin though.). I have seen a device is being tested which can be inserted to remove the calcium, hopefully it will be perfected and it can be a possibility.
Thanks for mentioning the movie - I will watch it.
Oh, the other point of the movie is that doctors/companies who provide stents make a ton of money and don’t really want a lot of people to have the diagnostic tests.
I will have an annual sonogram in December to determine if any of my arteries are clogged. I had triple-bypass surgery a year and a half ago. You could say that my cardiac arrest risk factor was low when I nearly died while driving my car. My family history points to a prevalence of either strokes or heart attacks. Thank you @MaineLonghorn for alerting us about these tests.
My husband’s friend died at age 38 from the Widowmaker. He was super fit, thin, non smoker, etc. Genetics are hard to fight. He had been married 3 months.
My SIL just had a heart attack in her early 50s & stent, her only symptoms were indigestion and fatigue (which she did not even realise until she felt much better after the procedure), I will check out this movie
@MaineLonghorn - thanks for the link and for the movie recommendation.
I have been reading quite a bit lately about the benefits of vitamin K2-7 taken with magnesium. Supposedly, this vitamin “guides” the calcium we ingest into our bones vs our arteries where it becomes a problem. In the old days, people got their K2-7 from eating eggs and butter from grass/pasture fed cows and chickens or natto which is a fermented soy.
You never know what to believe, but if anyone has an upcoming appt with a cardiologist I would be interested in their thought on K2-7.
^^ I’ve mentioned the benefits of K2 on several different threads, usually ones regarding vitamin D. For people taking vitamin D, using K2 in combination is something they should look at. D helps with absorption of calcium, however without K2 to guide the calcium to the bones it can end up in the arteries as you note.
What I’m not clear on with regards to the original post, is what you do with a CAT scan diagnosis. As @yearstogo posted, I don’t believe there’s any effective way to actively remove arterial plaque. So if you get a bad diagnosis what kind of treatment would you receive other than the typical statin and aspirin?
Re post #2. WRONG! Physicians are not in it to make money- although for some it is a nice side effect. I am a retired anesthesiologist who loved the work and H a now retired cardiologist. Doing procedures is only a part of a practice. So much as changed since my early days when I found cardiology boring- the drugs and treatments have changed vastly from admit and see if it was a heart attack (my short times on the service invariably were a no) to getting routine lab work while visiting one’s local primary care doctor and avoiding the problems, then when they occur being actually able to do something at the moment. My own mother died(before I met my H) of a heart attack- her indigestion was likely heart , not gut in an era when women were ignored in the field.
Medicine is an imperfect science- why we practice it, not just do it as technicians. There will always be those who lie at the tail ends of the Bell curve- outliers who should have lived/died given their lifestyle et al.
“A lot of heart attacks occur with no warning at all, to people who look and act very fit.”
I know three people who have had heart attacks. One was out jogging, one was out bicycling. The bicyclist and the jogger did not look like they were at risk and did not think that they were at risk. The bicyclist is fine – but due to other’s that he was lucky enough to be around who had the sense to call 911 even though he claimed he was fine (the EMT’s were not fooled for a minute). The third sedimentary person knew that they were at risk and called 911 themselves right away and is also relatively fine.
“My SIL just had a heart attack in her early 50s & stent, her only symptoms were indigestion and fatigue”
That was the bicyclist’s symptoms also, as well as a very slight minor discomfort in the left upper chest. There was nothing major and nothing obvious until the EMTs did an EKG. In case of doubt, most people (and probably especially most men) wait and see what happens. However, EMTs can diagnose things very quickly and are perfectly happy making several calls to save one life – the cost of an unnecessary 911 call is a whole lot less than the cost of dying.
“I don’t believe there’s any effective way to actively remove arterial plaque. So if you get a bad diagnosis what kind of treatment would you receive other than the typical statin and aspirin?”
If the artery is almost clogged they can put in a stent and basically push the clog out of the way. If the amount of clog is sufficiently low they can give drugs to keep things from getting worse. If the clog is really bad and extensive then a bipass might be needed. There are a lot of things that they can do and many people live well for decades after they are found to have heart disease.
Here the cardiac scans cost under $100, if you google around they are $69. You don’t need a drs referral. You do need to pay there and then. I must have watched that same video as I sent my DH out for one LOL.
That’s a very misleading thread title- and not true, in my opinion. I lost a 39 year old co-worker last week who was a former Army major and had every test and screening imaginable. He had a heart attack while participating in an adventure race while he was in the canoe portion (with a team). I’ve known a number of other people who had all the preventative screenings and still wound up dead before one would have predicted. I don’t think ANYTHING is completely preventable. Yes, you should do everything possible to minimize your risks and understand any health issues you might have, especially in light of family history. However, to say something like a heart attack is completely preventable is simply incorrect.
Thanks for all the feedback! The title of the thread was just a quote from the movie. It’s good to hear more facts. I don’t think it takes away from the fact that early screening WILL save lives, probably a lot of them.
Not to be obnoxious, but everyone dies of a cardiac arrest. We don’t know if Tom Petty had a heart attack, just that he was in full cardiac arrest (no heart beat) when he was found. I’ve noticed that it’s common to say a person died of cardiac arrest (especially celebrities) when the real cause isn’t known yet. Also, cardiac arrest is often incorrectly given as a cause of death on death certificates . Excerpt from Googling:
PART I
The purpose of this section of the death certificate is for the physician to indicate what the
underlying cause of death was and what intervening conditions, if any, led to the immediate
cause of death. Enter only one disease or condition on each line in this section and do not use
abbreviations. For each condition, indicate at the end of the line the approximate interval
between the date of onset and the date of death.
• Report the immediate cause of death on line 26(a). This should be the final disease or
complication directly causing the death. This condition should not just indicate the mode
of dying, which merely attests to the fact of death and is not specifically related to the
disease process. The following are examples of modes of dying which should not be
listed as the immediate cause of death:
Cardiac Arrest
Cardiopulmonary Arrest
Respiratory Arrest
Respiratory Failure
Failure to Thrive
Multi Organ/System Failure
• The following terms are examples of acceptable immediate causes of death. However,
these conditions would probably not be the underlying cause of death and would require
the physician to list their underlying cause on the next line below:
Bronchopneumonia
Pulmonary Embolism
Acute Myocardial Infarct (***HEART ATTACK)
Coagulopathy
Intercerebral Hemorrhage
Congestive Heart Failure
Liver Failure Metastases
So 600,000 heart attack victims/year may be an incorrect number. I’m hoping that’s the case.
That being said, I’ll probably ask my cardiologists for that test next visit.
However, be careful of claims that more screening is always better.
A type of screening may involve medical risks (e.g. radiation that can cause cancer).
A type of screening may produce false positives that can lead to unnecessary and potentially more medically risky treatment. A false positive may also mark you as uninsurable with a pre-existing condition if ACA is repealed.
A type of screening may produce false negatives that can lead to lack of attention to the risk.
A type of screening may have cost that may have a very high $ per life saved and therefore be less cost effective than other things that cost less $ per life saved.
In the context of the above, a type of screening may be worth the risk and cost for some people (based on other risk factors) but not for others.
I don’t think it takes away from the fact that early screening WILL save lives, probably a lot of them.