From WSJ.com
A Common Test to Screen for Stroke Risk Is Under Review
Health panel takes a new look at carotid-artery ultrasounds, which can produce false positive results.
By LAURA LANDRO
___________________________
795,000
Number of Americans
annually who suffer
a stroke
__________________
After a career driving custom buses for touring rock bands, Ken Goins felt like he was in good shape to enjoy retirement, having lost weight and quit smoking years earlier following a bypass operation at age 50.
But on his 69th birthday, an ultrasound test showed an 85% blockage in his left carotid artery, one of the two large blood vessels in the neck that supply blood to the brain and can become clogged with cholesterol. A vascular surgeon performed a carotid endarterectomy—a procedure to remove plaque and restore normal blood flow—to lower the risk of stroke from a blood clot or piece of plaque that can get stuck in a smaller artery in the brain.
Mr. Goins, now 70, is one of a growing number of older Americans undergoing carotid-artery screening to detect such blockages, many of them through heart and vascular screening programs that offer a package of tests for one relatively low fee. (Medicare and insurers typically don't cover such screenings.)
Read more from WSJ >>
A Common Test to Screen for Stroke Risk Is Under Review
Health panel takes a new look at carotid-artery ultrasounds, which can produce false positive results.
By LAURA LANDRO
___________________________
795,000
Number of Americans
annually who suffer
a stroke
__________________
After a career driving custom buses for touring rock bands, Ken Goins felt like he was in good shape to enjoy retirement, having lost weight and quit smoking years earlier following a bypass operation at age 50.
But on his 69th birthday, an ultrasound test showed an 85% blockage in his left carotid artery, one of the two large blood vessels in the neck that supply blood to the brain and can become clogged with cholesterol. A vascular surgeon performed a carotid endarterectomy—a procedure to remove plaque and restore normal blood flow—to lower the risk of stroke from a blood clot or piece of plaque that can get stuck in a smaller artery in the brain.
Mr. Goins, now 70, is one of a growing number of older Americans undergoing carotid-artery screening to detect such blockages, many of them through heart and vascular screening programs that offer a package of tests for one relatively low fee. (Medicare and insurers typically don't cover such screenings.)
Read more from WSJ >>
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