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Sarah Lavender Smith's avatar

Thanks for this important post about cardiac health. I would add, it's wise and recommended for anyone with a family history of parents or grandparents who died of a "heart attack," but you're not sure exactly what the cardiac issue was, to get tested. CT scans also detect aortic aneurysms, which otherwise go undetected and often arefatal. They can be fixed with surgery. I wrote a profile on longtime ultrarunner Monica Ochs who had open-heart surgery to get an aneurysm repaired, and she found out about only because she happened to get a CT scan—something she pushed for. She told me, "The only reason I found it is it was an incidental finding on a CT scan I had. I had high cholesterol genetically, so my doctor wanted to put me on statins, and I said, ‘Let me check my calcium score and see if my arteries are truly being clogged.’ So I went into [the scan] for that and had an incidental finding of an ascending aortic aneurysm.” As for difference between heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest, my understanding is a heart attack involves a blockage, whereas sudden cardiac arrest is an electrical malfunction. With a heart attack, you have hours to get help; with sudden cardiac arrest, you have only a few minutes, and it's essential to have access to an AED to treat sudden cardiac arrest. Learn CPR/AED and know where AEDs are located where you live!

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Karl Rysted's avatar

I'm going in for the test in the morning. I'm 63 and have been an endurance athlete for the last 23 years. My cholesterol is high, HDL of course which is great, but also LDL but my doctor always says, "You run enough to not worry about it." My Dad had a stent put in several years ago. It'll be interesting to learn my risk.

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