FARGO — For about six months, Essentia Health has been offering new vascular screenings. The goal is to help people detect problems before symptoms appear. "Human beings are really good at explaining away symptoms," Dr.
Rory Farnan, an interventional cardiologist at Essentia Health, said. Have you ever blamed your age for your legs, knee or neck hurting? "Sometimes these conditions, such as the enlargement of the blood vessel in the abdomen, called the aorta, can potentially be life-threatening and these are things that can be asymptomatic up to that point," Farnan said. If your family has a history of blockages in the neck or leg or even a tearing in your stomach, Farnan says you should get screened early for the possibility of vascular disease.
"You need maybe that extra push to get that exercise program going or eating better or you know you're on the fence about those cholesterol medicines called statins," Farnan said. The screening process includes three studies for one hour, and only needs to be completed once. I only went through the first screening for carotid artery disease, where the ultrasound looked for fatty deposits in my neck.
"For example, people can have sledge in the pipe's carotid arteries, and this can be present in many, many years before a stroke might occur," Farnan said. The other screenings are for abdominal aortic aneurysm and peripheral arterial disease. "People can have sledge in the pipes of the legs, the arteries of the legs, that might show up.