MISSOULA — February marks American Heart Month, and Community Medical Center (CMC) is working with Advanced Imaging to help patients detect heart disease before it becomes life-threatening.
Heart disease remains one of the leading causes of death in the United States, claiming more lives each year than all forms of cancer and accidental deaths — the No. 2 and 3 causes of death combined.
One of the major challenges with heart disease is how silent it can be, often leading to no diagnosis at all. For many patients, the condition builds in silence until a sudden health crisis occurs.
Early, accurate imaging can play a crucial role in prevention. CT cardiac calcium scoring offers a cheaper and highly informative route for assessing heart health. The test is fast and noninvasive.
MTN spoke with Dr. Matt Weiss, a CMC cardiologist in Missoula, about the screening process.
"In a very general sense, 40 and up becomes a nice sweet spot for patients to consider these tests if they're 40 years or older," Weiss said. "And again, I think as a preventive cardiologist, our real goal here is to try to seek out heart disease in people who may not be feeling any symptoms of that heart disease and potentially help them avoid things like heart attack and stroke.
Weiss recommends exercising, especially aerobic activity, and eating foods with lower saturated fat as lifestyle choices that can help maintain heart health. Patients should also talk to their healthcare provider to see if they recommend this screening.
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