Small scanners find hidden heart disease
Updated Sun. Oct. 7 2007 2:36 PM ET

The Associated Press

MADISON, Wis -- What if your doctor could swipe a wand over your neck
and reveal whether you have hidden heart disease?

That is now possible in places other than the sickbay of the starship
Enterprise.

Miniature ultrasound machines are starting to make their way into
ordinary doctors' offices, where they may someday be as common as
stethoscopes and EKGs. A pocket-sized one weighing less than 2 pounds
hit the market last week.

Some of these devices can make images of neck arteries, which offer a
"window" to heart arteries that cannot easily be seen. If the neck
vessels are clogged, doctors know that those around the heart probably
are, too, and that treatment or more testing is needed.

The new ultrasound machines offer a relatively cheap, painless way to
screen people with no symptoms of heart problems for signs of hidden
trouble.

Is that a good thing?

Many doctors say yes, because for one-third of heart disease
sufferers, the first symptom is dropping dead of a heart attack.
Finding these people early and treating them could save lives. The
test may be especially good for women, who often have few traditional
signs.

Lisa Rosenstock of Madison, Wis., is an example. At age 41, this trim,
athletic mom had normal cholesterol and blood pressure but a troubling
family history of heart attacks. Ultrasound revealed a big clog in the
main artery from her heart to her head.

Her cardiologist, Dr. James Stein of the University of Wisconsin-
Madison, put her on medicines to lower her risk of a heart attack or
stroke. He also is leading a study aimed at making ultrasound testing
more common.

"There's a great need for a noninvasive and safe way to identify
people who don't have signs but have risk" of heart disease, he said.

But there are potential downsides to more people doing this testing
without extensive training. Suddenly, small-town family doctors could
see scary-looking artery buildups and rush to treat some that might
never be life-threatening.

And while patients who see the pictures may be motivated to quit
smoking, lose weight or go on cholesterol drugs, some might suffer
side effects from unnecessary treatment.

Ultrasounds also are being advertised directly to consumers -- the
latest "peace of mind" test like whole-body CT scans and MRIs. Some
drugmakers are promoting wider testing because it could boost
cholesterol pill sales.

The American Heart Association says testing with traditional
ultrasound machines can help certain patients, but does not endorse
widespread screening with the small devices because proof of benefit
is lacking.

Guidelines from several groups suggesting who should use the small
ultrasound devices, and on which patients, are expected next spring,
said Stein, who heads a panel writing the advice.

On balance, many doctors see more promise than peril.

"It's equivalent to a mammogram of the heart," said Dr. Christopher
Rembold, a cardiologist at the University of Virginia. If doctors see
something suspicious, they can refer patients to specialists for more
extensive tests before deciding whether or how to treat it, he said.

Screening involves checking for buildups called plaque and measuring
the thickness of the wall of the main neck artery. Normal thickness
varies by age, race and sex, and charts give doctors detailed
guidance. Too-thick arteries are a sign of higher risk for heart
attack.

Until recently, only ultrasound specialists did these tests, which
were analyzed by a radiologist. That often meant patients needed
another appointment at a hospital or ultrasound center, and a return
trip to their primary doctor for results.

The portable ultrasound devices are changing that. SonoSite Inc. of
Bothell, Wash., came out with one in 1999. It was followed by GE
Healthcare, a suburban Milwaukee unit of General Electric. They mostly
are used in emergency rooms to check for problems with the heart's
valves or pumping capacity, or bulging abdominal arteries threatening
to rupture.

But scanning neck arteries became more common after SonoSite's
MicroMaxx came out in 2005. The 8-pound device is a small laptop and
costs US$25,000, or about $40,000 with related software.

The pocket-sized device that went on sale last week -- the $10,000
Acuson P10 -- might eventually expand artery scanning even more.
Siemens Medical Solutions, the Malvern, Pa.-based unit of the German
company Siemens AG, initially will sell the device for traditional
heart imaging and emergency use, but plans to offer artery imaging in
the near future. The quality of the images will have to be proved for
the device to gain wide acceptance, several experts said.

At UW-Madison, doctors have done neck scans with portable ultrasounds
on about 900 patients. They charge $295, and three local HMOs agreed
to pay. Most insurers do not, because of limited proof of the value of
such tests.

Others are selling neck scanning directly to consumers.

Dr. Robert Bonow, cardiology chief at Northwestern University and a
past heart association president, recently got an ad in the mail for
screening at a shopping center near his Glencoe, Ill., home. He
worries about the accuracy of such testing.

Suppose the scanning is 90 percent accurate, and the normal rate of
heart disease is 10 percent, he said. That would mean 20 out of 200
people would have heart disease and 180 would not. But the scan would
tell 18 people they had it when they didn't, and would miss heart
disease in 18 who did.

Because of the false alarms, "you may be treating twice as many people
as you have to," he said. "If you're dealing with 2 million people,
that's a lot of people who don't need treatment."

Robert Rosner, an ultrasound technician in Fort Myers, Fla., sells
screening to police, fire and other municipal workers and through
doctor offices and health clubs. He charges $180 and offers a personal
testimonial. At age 42, he scanned his own arteries and was surprised
to see a 30 percent narrowing in one. A doctor put him on medications,
and a couple of years later, the plaque was gone.

"Without needles or radiation or pain ... there's disease in the body
that can be reversed," he said. "I'm living proof."

UW's Stein is leading a study to see whether family practice doctors
can be trained in a weekend to accurately do the tests. SonoSite
donated equipment, and a university-administered grant is paying for
the study, which will test 350 patients.

"The danger of overtreating is low, especially in an environment where
we dangerously undertreat risk factors," Stein said. Screening itself
can be good, he pointed out. A previous study found that even those
whose arteries were found to be normal were motivated to exercise
more.

It should do even more good for people who do have heart disease, said
Dr. Sanford Carimi, a Janesville, Wis., physician participating in
Stein's study.

"If I tell you your cholesterol is 130, that won't bother you," he
said. "If I show you you have a plaque in the blood vessel leading to
your brain, you're more likely to make some changes."

*  *  *
Whoa!  I didn't know this was going on.

Marilyn