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American Morning
Paging Dr. Gupta: Ultrasound and Heart Disease
Aired October 01, 2003 - 09:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A new study says cardiac ultrasound can help to predict heart attacks and strokes in older patients.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us now from the CNN Center with details on this.
Hi, Sanjay?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
A lot of people heard of ultrasounds. That's not new. People have been using them for years for pregnant women, to detect abnormalities of the stomach and things like that. Well, how useful is it for the heart? Well, that's a subject of a new study trying to add ultrasound as part of a routine clinical examination to see if someone is likely to have heart difficulties later in life.
Now this specific study, they looked at 1,100 patients or so. They were all 65 or older. So this is an older group of patients. Well, they determined is some of the traditional restrict factors that people have known for a long time still apply, such as age, gender, diabetes, high blood pressure, things like that. When they added -- also doing -- you can see the list there, size of left atrium, which is very the bottom thing there, also was very important.
Let me show what you that means, because this is sort of important. When you do an ultrasound, you're -- here's a model of the heart. You're actually -- you see the front of the heart here. When you do an ultrasound, you're getting a sense of the size of the chambers inside the heart. When you open this up, this particular chamber is called the left atrium. What they are saying if that particular size chamber is enlarged, there tends to be a higher risk of having heart difficulties later on. I think this is going to be a very sensitive indicator.
Again, Heidi, this is in folk whose have no history of heart disease. They are 65 or older, but have no history of heart disease. If you add this echocardiogram, this type of ultrasound of the heart, a much more sensitive indicator of heart disease later in life -- Heidi.
COLLINS: So, Sanjay, you've been talking about 65 years and older. Is there anybody else who can benefit from an echocardiogram?
GUPTA: Yes, good question. For most people -- and this is important to point out -- if -- most people are still going to be fine with a clinical exam and an EKG, if you're concerned at all about your heart but you're healthy.
Let's say someone who's middle aged, but has had some troubles, maybe occasional chest pain, or shortness of breath, or something like this, this cardiac ultrasound is going to be a good test for that. It may take the place of what is known as the stress test. A lot of people have heard of the stress test. This cardiac ultrasound may be something that's done either in addition to that or instead of that later on down the road. But again, mainly for people who are older, who don't have an existing history of heart disease so far -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, keeping up to speed with the medical side of things. Thanks, Sanjay.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 1, 2003 - 09:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A new study says cardiac ultrasound can help to predict heart attacks and strokes in older patients.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us now from the CNN Center with details on this.
Hi, Sanjay?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
A lot of people heard of ultrasounds. That's not new. People have been using them for years for pregnant women, to detect abnormalities of the stomach and things like that. Well, how useful is it for the heart? Well, that's a subject of a new study trying to add ultrasound as part of a routine clinical examination to see if someone is likely to have heart difficulties later in life.
Now this specific study, they looked at 1,100 patients or so. They were all 65 or older. So this is an older group of patients. Well, they determined is some of the traditional restrict factors that people have known for a long time still apply, such as age, gender, diabetes, high blood pressure, things like that. When they added -- also doing -- you can see the list there, size of left atrium, which is very the bottom thing there, also was very important.
Let me show what you that means, because this is sort of important. When you do an ultrasound, you're -- here's a model of the heart. You're actually -- you see the front of the heart here. When you do an ultrasound, you're getting a sense of the size of the chambers inside the heart. When you open this up, this particular chamber is called the left atrium. What they are saying if that particular size chamber is enlarged, there tends to be a higher risk of having heart difficulties later on. I think this is going to be a very sensitive indicator.
Again, Heidi, this is in folk whose have no history of heart disease. They are 65 or older, but have no history of heart disease. If you add this echocardiogram, this type of ultrasound of the heart, a much more sensitive indicator of heart disease later in life -- Heidi.
COLLINS: So, Sanjay, you've been talking about 65 years and older. Is there anybody else who can benefit from an echocardiogram?
GUPTA: Yes, good question. For most people -- and this is important to point out -- if -- most people are still going to be fine with a clinical exam and an EKG, if you're concerned at all about your heart but you're healthy.
Let's say someone who's middle aged, but has had some troubles, maybe occasional chest pain, or shortness of breath, or something like this, this cardiac ultrasound is going to be a good test for that. It may take the place of what is known as the stress test. A lot of people have heard of the stress test. This cardiac ultrasound may be something that's done either in addition to that or instead of that later on down the road. But again, mainly for people who are older, who don't have an existing history of heart disease so far -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, keeping up to speed with the medical side of things. Thanks, Sanjay.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
