Diagnostics

For many years, preventive medicine consisted primarily of recommendations to improve dietary and exercise habits, avoid tobacco products and obtain an adequate amount of sleep. While these common sense guidelines still remain the core principles of preventive medicine, we also recognize that in many cases, even strict adherence to these principles is not sufficient to ward off many chronic diseases. Accordingly, a more sophisticated and aggressive approach is required if we hope to improve the quality of life.

We have long known that the earlier disease is detected, the greater the likelihood it can be treated successfully. Conventional medicine typically waits for the appearance of symptoms before the presence of disease can be confirmed. Unfortunately, in certain cases such as heart disease, the first symptom is often sudden death. In other cases, such as osteoporosis, the first symptom is a fracture, which can be severely disabling and which also means the disease is already present in an advanced state.

At Alternity Healthcare, our philosophy is to look for evidence of potential problems lurking in the background, well before symptoms are apparent. While early detection is the next best thing, it is not the same as prevention. Our goal is to keep today’s health risks from becoming tomorrow’s chronic illnesses.

Our list of preventive screening tests includes:

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Stress Test (CPET)

CPET Involves pedaling a stationary bike at increasing levels of difficulty, while your electrocardiogram, heart rate, and blood pressure are monitored to determine if there is an abnormal rhythm. In addition, CPET measures physiologic aspects of cardiovascular function, such as oxygen consumption, that are missed during a conventional stress test. It is particularly useful in detecting sub-clinical cardiovascular disease and the micro-vascular coronary artery disease in women that is frequently missed with conventional screening tests. Your oxygen consumption is also the best measure of your aerobic fitness.

Carotid Intima Media Thickness test (CIMT)

HeartSmartIMTplus™ is a non-invasive, state-of-the-art, cost-effective diagnostic tool for the earliest detection of cardiovascular disease. It is safe, painless and convenient, taking only 10 – 15 minutes in our office.  CIMT testing uses advanced ultrasound technology to measure the thickness of the intima media layers of the carotid arterial wall. The thickening of that layer, due to inflammation, is the earliest signs that you are developing cardiovascular disease; long before there is plaque build-up. This test can also detect plaque and distinguish between hard calcified plaque and soft friable plaque that is more likely to result in an acute event.

SphygmoCor CP Pulse Wave Analysis

The SphygmoCor CP system is a non-invasive test that measure the actual pressure that the heart, brain and kidneys experience.   Using a highly sensitive pressure transducer held against the your pulse, the pressure wave exiting the heart is captured and analyzed through a complex algorithm.  This identifies the central aortic pressure, determines the portion of the pressure attributable to diseased or stiffened arteries, the relative workload of the heart, and the ratio between the heart’s demand for oxygen and the available supply.  It also provides a calculation of your relative vascular age.  None of this critical cardiovascular data is available with the traditional brachial blood pressure cuff measurement.

DEXA bone density test

DEXA stands for Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry and is the gold standard for measuring bone mineral density (BMD). A BMD test is safe and painless, and provides important information about your bone health. You can have osteoporosis without any symptoms. BMD testing can tell you if you have osteoporosis or osteopenia by letting you know the amount of bone mineral you have in a certain area of bone. Bone density testing can be done on different bones of your body, the most important of which are your spine and hips. Our GE Lunar Prodigy scanner has the latest FRAX update that provides an estimate of 10-year fracture probability for the hip, spine, forearm or shoulder, endorsed by the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

DEXA Body Composition Analysis

Nutrition, exercise and aging may have profound effects on an individual’s body composition. Body composition measurement with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) can look beyond weight and the traditional body mass index (BMI) to determine body fat distribution – an important risk factor in a variety of serious diseases.  It is the most accurate means for determining body cmposition and is generally considered the gold standard for this purpose.  A full body scan body provides data on fat percentage; lean body mass; fat mass; and the distribution of fat and lean tissue in the arms, trunk, and legs.

Comprehensive Laboratory testing

Our in-depth blood panels provide a much greater level of information about your current state of health than standard blood tests. We incorporate disease biomarkers, serum and saliva hormone levels, measures of every organ system function, metabolic and nutritional status, neuro-transmitters, chromosome analysis and genetic markers. We utilize Quest Diagnostic Labs and several specialty labs, including Spectracell Labs, Biophysical Corporation, UCLA Immunology Lab, Genova Diagnostics, Metametrix Lab, ALCAT Labs and Labrix for our testing.

Neuro-Cognitive Screening

Headminder Ccognitive Stability Index (CSI) is a computerized assessments of reaction time, processing speed, memory, attention/executive functioning and mental status are performed to screen for early signs of cognitive decline, dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

Early CDT-Lung Test

The blood test, EarlyCDT®-Lung, can potentially detect lung cancer before symptoms are evident – when the cancer is pea-size or smaller. When treated at a small size, five-year survival rates are more than 50%. Currently, about 85% of lung cancers are found at a “golf-ball” size or larger when the overall survival rate is less than 15%.