Coronary Artery Disease - Prevention

Prevention

Coronary artery disease is the most common form of heart disease in the Western world. Prevention centers on the modifiable risk factors, which include decreasing cholesterol levels, addressing obesity and hypertension, avoiding a sedentary lifestyle, making healthy dietary choices, and stopping smoking. There is some evidence that lowering homocysteine levels may contribute to more heart attacks (NORVIT trial). In diabetes mellitus, there is little evidence that very tight blood sugar control actually improves cardiac risk although improved sugar control appears to decrease other undesirable problems like kidney failure and blindness. Some recommend a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin C. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends "low to moderate alcohol intake" to reduce risk of coronary artery disease although this remains without scientific cause and effect proof.

An increasingly growing number of other physiological markers and homeostatic mechanisms are currently under scientific investigation. Patients with CAD and those trying to prevent CAD are advised to avoid fats that are readily oxidized (e.g., trans-fats), limit carbohydrates and processed sugars to reduce production of Low density lipoproteins (LDLs), triacylglycerol and apolipoprotein-B. It is also important to keep blood pressure normal, exercise and stop smoking. These measures reduce the development of heart attacks. Recent studies have shown that dramatic reduction in LDL levels can cause regression of coronary artery disease in as many as 2/3 of patients after just one year of sustained treatment.

Menaquinone (Vitamin K₂), but not phylloquinone (Vitamin K₁), intake is associated with reduced risk of CAD mortality, all-cause mortality and severe aortic calcification.

CAD has always been a tough disease to diagnose without the use of invasive or stressful activities. The development of the Multifunction Cardiogram (MCG) has changed the way CAD is diagnosed. The MCG consists of a 2 lead resting EKG signal is transformed into a mathematical model and compared against tens of thousands of clinical trials to diagnose a patient with an objective severity score, as well as secondary and tertiary results about the patients condition. The results from MCG tests have been validated in 8 clinical trials which resulted in a database of over 50,000 patients where the system has demonstrated accuracy comparable to coronary angiography (90% overall sensitivity, 85% specificity). This level of accuracy comes from the application of advanced techniques in signal processing and systems analysis combined with a large scale clinical database which allows MCG to provide quantitative, evidence-based results to assist physicians in reaching a diagnosis. The MCG has also been awarded a Category III CPT code by the American Medical Association in the July 2009 CPT update.