FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Every 33 seconds one particular person within the U.S. dies from heart problems making it the main reason behind loss of life on this nation.
A free program in Broward County was once applied to assist diagnose sufferers, like 58-year-old Andrew Cooper, ahead of it’s too past due.
Cooper has all the time been in form and enjoys an energetic existence.
“Last year I was probably riding at Markham Park, which is a mountain bike park, probably getting about 5-6 hours of riding in every single week,” Cooper stated.
He by no means imagined there may well be one thing mistaken together with his heart till he made up our minds to participate in a county-wide initiative known as ‘The Broward Heart Project.’
“The program was started by the Broward County Commissioners, and it was meant as a preventative cardiac screening program for patients in Broward County,” stated Dr. Kenneth Herskowitz, Medical Director of Cardiovascular Surgery at Broward Health Medical Center.
Herskowitz stated the program supplies investment essentially for a CT scan of the heart.
“What we’re doing is we’re putting a small IV Into the patient, giving them a little bit of dye and then we can take a CAT scan of the chest. Actually, we take a CAT scan of their coronary arteries and look at their heart and we can look at their coronary anatomy very closely,” Herskowitz stated.
Although he had no signs, Cooper’s scan presentations vital blockages in his arteries.
“Very often we can find things we can’t pick up on a cardiac stress test,” Herskowitz stated.
“So literally 26 hours after walking into the hospital I was actually going into surgery for a quadruple bypass. It was so quick I didn’t even have time to think about it,” Cooper stated.
He’s thankful for the program that he calls a lifesaver.
“Without the scan the only way I was really going to find out was most likely, well almost certainly at some point in my life, I was going to have a fairly severe heart attack, which, obviously, this is a much better way for me,” Cooper stated.
The Broward Heart Project will proceed so long as investment is to be had.
For extra information cross to: https://www.broward.org/takehearttest/Pages/default.aspx
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