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Heart Attack News



The Old Paradigm: Sick Care
 

Established cardiovascular guidelines focus on detecting and treating “symptomatic patients,” those who have experienced a heart attack. Very little investment has been made to prevent a first heart attack.

Today’s guidelines fail to identify the “vulnerable patient” those who are at high risk of a heart attack. Screening only for risk factors of heart disease (e.g. blood pressure and cholesterol) has resulted in many heart attack victims being considered borderline or “normal” and not high risk.

Risk factor screening is necessary but grossly insufficient for prevention of heart attack.

SHAPE begins where risk factor screening ends.


New Paradigm: Health Care


SHAPE advocates for detecting and treating asymptomatic (healthy-looking) individuals who are at high risk of a future heart attack.

The SHAPE Guideline calls for all apparently healthy men 45-75y and women 55-75y to be screened for atherosclerosis (plaque buildup in the heart and arteries) which, allows for identification and treatment of the “vulnerable patient”, individuals who have a very high risk of a near future heart attack.

Heart attack is not an earthquake; it can be predicted, thereby prevented.

In addition to preventive screening, SHAPE calls for accelerating the research and development to enable mass adoption of “Polypill” and vaccine for atherosclerosis.

Our mission is to eradicate heart attacks.

 

LEARN MORE

 SHAPE Points

Visit SHAPE Points, our library of PowerPoint slides provided by distinguished cardiovascular researchers.  

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Featured Scientists

 

 Featured PowerPoint

Naghavi PPT

Why does screening for the prevention of heart attack need to look beyond risk factors?
 

SHAPE Textbook 

Textbook thumbnail

Asymptomatic Atherosclerosis
Pathophysiology, Detection, and Treatment
 

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Quiz & Poll
  Patient's Question
Which condition is more dangerous? (better predicts a near future heart attack)
    High blood cholesterol
    High coronary calcium
  Doctor's Question
Would you treat individuals with normal cholesterol but high coronary calcium or carotid IMT?
    No
    Yes