Choose Life Line Screening to Avoid These Two Killers

By Paula Motolik

CLEVELAND – The majority of people who find out that they are at risk for having a stroke or a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, had no idea that they were even a candidate for one of these potentially life-threatening diseases.

Lacking knowledge of the risk factors associated with stroke and abdominal aortic aneurysms, or without the presence of identifiable warning signs, thousands of people a year are stricken by the effects that each can cause. What most potential victims are unaware of is that a simple screening can prevent a major occurrence.

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in America each year, yet most people can’t even name a warning sign or a symptom. In order to educate the public about the potentially deadly effects of stroke, May has been designated as “Stroke Awareness Month” by the American Stroke Association, and will direct attention towards the general knowledge and understanding people have of stroke.

Known also as a “Brain Attack”, it can lead to debilitating brain damage depending on the severity of the stroke, and where it happens in the brain.  The most common type of stroke occurs due to a build-up of a plaque-like substance in the carotid arteries. When plaque is discovered, it significantly increases a person’s risk for stroke.

Abdominal aortic aneurysms, also known as AAAs, are not the first concern that comes to mind when someone thinks of a life-threatening illness. Yet it is the 10^th leading cause of death in men over age 50 and the 13^th overall.  One of the distinctions that makes AAAs so deadly is that many go undetected until it is too late, leading to a mortality rate of over 80 percent in the event of a rupture.

Through prevention, the presence of plaque buildup or an aneurysm can be detected and treated prior to the problem occurring. Most stroke or AAA victims never show a symptom or warning sign, therefore increasing the importance of prevention.    

Life Line Screening focuses on the education and prevention of treatable diseases such as stroke, abdominal aortic aneurysms, peripheral arterial disease and osteoporosis.

Free educational workshops are offered throughout the communities in which we screen, and are designed to help people better understand and recognize the risk factors, symptoms and warning signs that can occur with these treatable diseases.

Screenings are fast, painless and offered at low cost. They involve the use of ultrasound technology, and scan for potential health problems related to: blocked arteries which can lead to a stroke, aortic aneurysms which can lead to a rupture, and plaque buildup in the arteries in the legs, which is a strong predictor of heart disease. Also offered for men and women is a bone density screening to assess their risk for osteoporosis.

For more information on our screenings, to schedule an appointment or to locate a site in your area, please call 1-800-710-1902.

Risk Factors and Warning Signs:

Risk Factors of Stroke include:

ü       High Blood Pressure

ü       Heart disease – especially an irregular heart beat known as Atrial Fibrillation (AF)

ü       Smoking

ü       Diabetes

ü       High cholesterol

ü       Obesity / poor diet

Warning Signs include:

ü       Numbness or weakness in face, arm, or leg

ü       Difficulty speaking

ü       Severe dizziness, loss of balance or coordination

ü       Sudden dimness, loss of vision

ü       Sudden intense headache

ü       Brief loss of consciousness

Stroke Statistics

ü        There are 750,000 stroke victims every year.

ü       160,000 strokes result in death.

ü       266,000 survive the stroke with permanent disabilities.

ü       30,000 stroke survivors are new permanent admissions to nursing homes every year.

ü       Physicians cannot typically order diagnostic carotid artery testing for an asymptomatic individual.

ü       50 percent of stroke victims show no prior symptoms.

ü       The direct and indirect costs associated with stroke tally more then $300 billion per year.

ü       Over the course of a lifetime, four out of every five American families will be touched by stroke.

ü       Approximately one-third of all stroke survivors will have another stroke within five years.

ü       Stroke is one of the leading causes of adult disability.

ü       Stroke kills more than twice as many American women every year as breast cancer

Risk Factors for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA) include:

ü       Being a male over the age of 60

ü       Smoker

ü       Heredity

ü       High blood pressure

ü       Atherosclerosis (deposits of fat and Cholesterol ‘called plaque’ build up on the artery’s inner wall, causing the lining to deteriorate)

ü       Inflammation of the arteries

ü       Infection (Fungal or bacterial)

ü       Chlamydia pneumoniae (a type of bacteria)

Warning Signs Include:

ü       Steady, vague pain in the lower back

ü       A pulsating and/or tender mass in the abdomen

ü       An unexplained feeling of fullness after eating only small amounts of food

ü       A lack of blood flow to a body part

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Statistics:

ü       The mortality rate from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm is 90-95 percent. The mortality rate from planned surgical treatment is less than 5 percent.

ü       Once discovered, an aneurysm is measured in diameter and carefully monitored. When it grows beyond five centimeters in size, the aneurysm is surgically removed.

ü       The vast majority of people who have an aneurysm have no symptoms. The most common symptoms are back pain, rigidity in the abdomen or tenderness in the abdomen.

ü       Some medical research indicates that as many as 8 out of every 100 people over the age of 60 have an undetected AAA.

ü       Approximately one in every 250 people over the age of 50 will die of a ruptured AAA.

ü       Males are at least four times more likely to have an AAA than females.

ü       AAA is the 13^th leading cause of death in the U.S