Endothelial Dysfunction: A New Test

I have a brief article regarding a test that is non-invasive and which can predict a persons cardiovascular health. the Endopat test uses a pressure cuff and expensive finger sensors to evaluate a persons vascular resistance.  Vascular resistance refers to the force needed to perfuse the arteries in the body by the heart.  It concludes that the higher the resistance, the stiffer the blood vessels, thus the more disease prone they are.  I have learned to perform this test, and will soon be testing patients in the clinic.  I think it has merit in that it is FDA approved and backed by some solid research.  I am not sure that I want to be told I may have a heart attack within 7 years though.  I took the test myself, and scored very well.  I guess that is good news.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The number one killer in America is heart disease.

Now there’s a simple new test that possibly predicts heart disease years in advance not by looking at your heart, but your fingers instead.

KCAL9′s Juan Fernandez spoke to Dr. Chris Renna of LifeSpan Medicine in Santa Monica to find out how the test works.

“Endothelial function is the bomb. That’s the money,” he said.

Blood vessel health can be easily checked with the EndoPat test, according to Dr. Renna.

 Here is the link.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/05/03/medical-test-uses-fingers-to-predict-heart-disease/

Thanks Drudge and CBS LA