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Track Your Plaque shows how to use
CT heart scans as the 1st step in a proven program to slow, stop, even
REVERSE heart disease!
In this issue:
Hello, everybody!
  As
the Track Your Plaque experience grows, we’re seeing bigger, faster
drops in heart scan scores. Read about our newest record holder who
dropped his heart scan score more than anybody else before in the
program. I can tell you that dropping your heart scan score by an
enormous margin sure makes you a happy man or woman.
But listen to drug manufacturers and you’d think that just taking a
statin drug cures heart disease. You and I know that this is nonsense.
Ask your hospital and they will tell you that a stress test and perhaps
a procedure might help. You’ll find plenty of cardiologists willing to
comply. The financially lucrative world of heart procedures goes on
around us, unchecked and unrestrained.
Yet genuine, bona fide reversal of extraordinary magnitude is entirely
possible and within the reach of many!.
Track in health!
Dr. Davis
Another Track Your Plaque
success story
Neal, a 40-year old school principal, went to his
doctor because of chest pain. Slender and physically active, at first he
refused to believe that it could have represented heart disease. He
started to really worry when he had to stop mid-step while coaching
basketball. The pain passed within 30 seconds, but Neal mentioned it to
his wife, who promptly insisted that he discuss it with his physician.
His primary care physician, skeptical of heart disease, had Neal undergo
a simple stress EKG, i.e., a stress test without nuclear or ultrasound
imaging. While it was normal, Neal did experience some of his chest
discomfort. To help clarify the issue, Neal’s primary care physician
asked him to undergo a CT heart scan. His score: 339, in the 99th
percentile for men in his age group. Even worse, 200 of the 339 points
of plaque scoring were in the left main stem artery, the shared trunk of
the left anterior descending and circumflex coronary arteries. Heart
attack here is fatal immediately.
Neal ended up with a heart catheterization because of the crucial
location of his plaque, as well as the equivocal symptoms and stress
results. Thankfully, only mild plaque of no more than 30% severity in
the left main stem artery was identified. Thus, it was unlikely to
account for Neal’s symptoms and there would be no benefit from a
procedure like bypass surgery. So we were free to pursue his program of
prevention.
Through lipoprotein testing, Neal proved to have high LDL cholesterol
comprised almost entirely of small LDL particles, along with a moderate
to severe deficiency of vitamin D.
One year of effort to correct his patterns included fish oil, niacin for
small LDL, and changes in food choices. A repeat heart scan 15 months
later showed a score of 161―a 51% reduction!
Dr. Davis Comments:
Neal now holds the Track Your Plaque record for the
biggest drop in heart scan score, the largest degree of plaque reversal
we’ve ever seen. After the initial gut-wrenching scare to Neal and his
family on first learning of his high heart scan score at age 40, the
enormous drop in his score brought a big sigh of relief.
We tell critics that, not only is reversal possible, but huge amounts of
reversal can be achieved in many people.
Now, I wish I could tell you that everybody who engages in our program
drops their score like Neal. But that’s not true. After all, Neal is our
current record-holder. All we can do is help you tip the odds heavily in
your favor. But, if recent trends are any indication, I predict that
we’re going to be seeing hordes of people following in Neal’s footsteps.
Just a few short years ago, even we didn’t believe this much reversal
was possible. The proof is in the pudding.
Calcium in plaque: Passive or active participant?
For
years, the calcium in coronary atherosclerotic plaque has been regarded
as a convenience―something visible on CT heart scans, easy to measure.
When Dr. John Rumberger and his Mayo Clinic team showed that calcium
consistently comprised 20% of total plaque volume, regardless of age or
sex, a light went off: calcium can be used to indirectly gauge total
plaque.
But calcium was regarded as “dumb,” an innocent bystander in the plaque
process. Some even argued that calcium was evidence that the plaque had
ruptured in past, and it was therefore a sign of healing. They’ve even
argued that calcium provides a stabilizing factor in plaque.
But newer scientific data are suggesting a more active role for calcium,
one that puts it center stage in the creation of coronary
atherosclerotic plaque.
For years, it’s been known that people with less calcium in bones, known
as osteoporosis, are much more likely to have more calcium in arteries
(coronary, carotid, and others). Why this divergent calcium behavior
occurred was unclear.
But recent observations on vitamins D and K2 are beginning to fill in
the blanks. These two nutrients are the master controllers over calcium
metabolism in both bones and arteries. Deficiency of either leads to
disordered calcium handling: calcium is extracted from bones, while it’s
laid down in arteries. Correction of deficiencies may improve both.
The Track Your Plaque experience, in fact, is suggesting that correction
of calcium metabolism in arteries may be one of the key strategies to
obtaining huge reduction— reversal of coronary atherosclerotic plaque.
My stress test was normal. I
don’t need a heart scan!
Katy had undergone a stress test while being seen in an emergency
room, where she'd gone one weekend because of a dull pain on the right
side of her chest. After the stress test proved normal, she was
diagnosed (I believe correctly) with esophageal reflux, or regurgitation
of stomach acid up the esophagus. She was prescribed an acid-suppressing
medication, which yielded complete relief.
But Katy also had coronary plaque. Three years ago, her CT heart scan
score was 157. She'd made efforts to correct the multiple causes, though
she still struggled with keeping weight down to gain full control over
her small LDL particle pattern.
I felt it was time for a reassessment: another heart scan. After three
years, without any preventive efforts, Katy's score would be expected to
have reached 345! (That's 30% per year plaque growth.) It's a good idea
to get feedback on just how much slowing you've accomplished.
But Katy declared, "But I didn't think another heart scan was necessary.
My stress test was normal!"
What Katy was struggling to understand was that even at the time of her
first scan, a stress test would have been normal. Plaque can be present
with a normal stress test.
Plaque can even show explosive growth, all while stress tests remain
normal. Just ask former President, Bill Clinton, how much he should have
relied on stress tests. (Mr. Clinton underwent annual stress nuclear
tests. All were normal and he had no symptoms--all the way up until he
needed urgent bypass surgery!)
Of course, at some point even a crude stress test will reveal abnormal
results. But that's years into your disease and a lot closer to needing
procedures and experiencing heart attack.
So, yes, Katy would benefit from another heart scan despite her normal
stress test.
The message: Don't rely on stress tests to gauge whether or not plaque
has grown, stabilized, or reversed. Stress tests can be used to gauge
the safety of exercise, blood pressure response, and the potential for
abnormal heart rhythms. Stress tests can be used as a method to
determine whether blood flow in your coronary arteries is normal through
an area containing plaque.
But a stress test cannot be used to gauge whether plaque has grown.
It's as simple as that. Gauging plaque growth requires a heart scan.
Interested in becoming a Track Your Plaque Member?
If you’re interested in finding out more about becoming
a Member of Track Your Plaque, go to the
Track Your
Plaque Member Benefits page. See why more and more people are
finding out that there are alternatives to the conventional answers (or
lack of answers!) for heart disease.
Track Your Plaque Members: Watch for our upcoming
Special Reports
Watch for our upcoming Special Reports on:
Aspirin: How it works, how much to take
Conventional practice dictates that aspirin benefits some people, fails
to benefit others. Here we cut through the clutter and discuss whether
or not aspirin holds any benefit for us in the Track Your Plaque
approach.
Phospholipase A2--Emerging marker or drug company scam?
Erectile dysfunction and coronary plaque--Is there a connection?
Nuts and Bolts: Should nuts be a mainstay of your plaque control
program?
Copyright 2007, Track Your Plaque
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