This page was designed and is maintained by Nersi Nikakhtar.Last updated September 19, 2008
The Vascular Health Screening Program at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics helps physicians identify patients with pre-clinical atherosclerosis and can help improve assessment of cardiovascular risk. This program has two components: non-invasive arterial testing and individualized risk assessment with counseling.
1. Non-invasive arterial testing. This component involves measurement of carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) using high-resolution B-mode ultrasound.
Measurement of CIMT is a safe and noninvasive test. It provides incremental information to traditional risk factor assessment and is a powerful predictor of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and stroke. CIMT measurement offers several advantages over measurement of coronary calcium scoring. CIMT testing does not involve exposure to radiation and can be helpful in women, ethnic minorities, and younger patients whose arteries have not developed calcification. This is not a simple carotid Duplex ultrasound scan to find a carotid stenosis - it involves sophisticated scanning and measurement techniques including the determination of vascular age.
2. Individualized risk assessment. This component provides a formal, personalized risk assessment using questionnaires, multivariate risk models, and measurement of body fat, body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, lipid and glucose levels. Experts in exercise, diet, and smoking cessation will provide counseling and recommendations regarding medical management of cardiovascular risk factors.
Patient participation in the Vascular Health Screening Program requires a physician's order and is not being marketed to patients. Our goal is to provide a valuable, evidence-based service to the medical community that helps identify and prevent atherosclerotic vascular disease. Ideal patients are asymptomatic individuals between the ages of 40 and 70 years old. The results of the CIMT scan, lipid panel, glucose determination, and other assessments will be reported to the patient and ordering physician.
The charge for Vascular Health Screening is $295. In the Madison area, insurance coverage usually is provided by Unity, Group Health Cooperative, and Physicians Plus, if the patient meets all of the following criteria:
a. referred by their primary care physician
b. does not have known atherosclerotic vascular disease
c. 40 to 70 years old
d. “intermediate” risk defined as a 10-year risk of myocardial infarction or coronary death of 10-20%, or 6-20% in patients with a family history of premature heart disease. These definitions are outlined in the NCEP ATP III guidelines and the Framingham risk prediction algorithm in those guidelines.
You may also review patient information about the AIRP in the Vascular Health Screening Program brochure, available in .PDF format (note: this requires Acrobat Reader from Adobe).
Please feel free to call us if you have any questions about the Vascular Health Screening Program or would like to order this test for your patient (608-263-7420).
This page was designed and is maintained by Nersi Nikakhtar.