The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Non-invasive test for cardiovascular profiling on cards

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 15, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Non-invasive test for cardiovascular profiling on cards

M. Dinesh Varma

New equipment can measure elasticity of the arteries

CHENNAI: A new non-invasive diagnostic equipment to profile the elasticity of blood vessels is all set to enter the Chennai health scene.

The Cardio Vascular Profiler (CVP) will be used for the first time here in a medical camp organised on Saturday under auspices of Chennai Senior Citizens' Bureau.

Unlike invasive techniques such as Doppler or angiogram, the CVP is non-invasive and can measure elasticity of the arteries on the basis of inputs like height, weight, body mass index and blood pressure of a patient.

The printout generated by the machine will classify patients prone to atherosclerosis on the basis of percentage loss of elasticity.

The patients are classified as normal (elasticity loss under 12 per cent), mildly predisposed (above 12 per cent and below 36 per cent) and high-risk groups (above 36 per cent).

According to V. S. Natarajan, chairman of the Bureau, the equipment is particularly useful to track the health of the arteries of ageing persons in a non-invasive way.

The thickening of arteries can lead to heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular diseases.

Under non-modifiable risk factors are age, premature menopause in women and family history while the modifiable factors include hypertension, abnormal lipid profiles, smoking, diabetes, obesity and hyper homocystine levels.

Early identification of predisposition can help preventive cardiology interventions, Dr. Natarajan said.

The medical camp is scheduled at the Kumaran Hospital, Kilpauk, from 9 a.m. to noon. For details about the camp, call 26412030/28231388.

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