Early Detection is the Key to Prevention

This is the future of health care.  The Live Safe screening program gives you the opportunity to provide for yourself what no physician can provide. 

The diseases which are screened for as part of the Live Safe screening, are often times present in your body long before symptoms expose them.  But without symptoms, your physician cannot recommend diagnostic tests or prescribe medication to treat the disease.  He or she can tell you to eat right, exercise and take care of yourself, but cannot provide treatment.  So your health becomes a waiting game...waiting for symptoms of disease to show themselves, but knowing that at that point it might be too late.  The Live Safe screening has changed all of that.

The Live Safe screening allows you to see inside your body with testing that is completely painless and non-invasive.  Unlike many other screening methods available today, this screening will expose you to absolutely no dangerous radiation.  After the screening you will know if you are in the early stages of heart disease or if build up on your carotid artery is putting you at risk for a stroke.  You will know if your liver, kidneys, thyroid, gallbladder, CBD or pancreas are showing any symptoms of disease.  Once you know, you give your doctor the freedom to treat you to the best of his or her ability.  At that point he or she can recommend further testing, prescribe medications and do everything in their power to make you healthy. 

With a safe and high quality screening, like the Live Safe screening program, your health no longer need be a waiting game.  You have nothing to lose by being screened, and everything to gain.

Screening for Leading Causes of Death

Cardiovascular disease was responsible for one out of every 2.5 deaths in 2000.  In 2004 it claimed more lives than cancer, accidents and HIV/AIDS combined, with 871,500 deaths (see chart to the right). Nearly 150,000 of these deaths, occur in individuals under the age of 65. And possibly the most troubling statistic, more than 50% of individuals who die of Coronary Artery Disease, exhibited no symptoms prior to death. It is these individuals who have the most to gain by being screened. While much has been done to educate the public in recent years, of the symptoms and risk factors for heart disease and other CVDs, only screening can detect disease without symptoms.

Screening can help to facilitate early diagnosis, treatment and possibly prevent premature death. 

The pie chart to the left shows the breakdown of CVD related deaths, as reported by the American Heart Association.  The Live Safe Heart Disease Screening and Vascular Screening, combine to provide a comprehensive test for the vast majority of these CVDs.  The Heart Disease Screening looks for indicators of heart disease while the Vascular Screening searches for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, Peripheral Arterial Disease (an excellent indicator of total cardiovascular health) and indicators of stroke in the carotid arteries.  

Ultrasound Services, Inc. is an accredited provider of vascular screening (the only screening accreditation currently available). For more information on how accreditation translates into higher quality care and better service, please visit Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories.

The final portion of the Live Safe screening is meant to assess the health of the liver, gallbladder, common bile duct (CBD), pancreas, thyroid and kidneys. Specifically these organs are being examined for early signs of disease or masses, much like the sort of assessment provided by a mammogram or a colonoscopy.  The inclusion of this general ultrasound screening, make the Live Safe screening unique in its comprehensiveness. 

Risk Factors

The risk factors which might put an individual at increased risk of disease, include:

• over 40 years of age
• male
• family history of heart disease, stroke or disease
• post-menopausal in women
• race (African Americans, American Indians and Mexicans are more likely to have heart disease than Caucasions)
• smoking
• high cholesterol
• high blood pressure
• low physical activity
• obesity (more than 20% over one's ideal body weight)
• diabetes
• uncontrolled stress and anger
• excessive alcohol intake

These risk factors may indicate an increased cause for a screening.