Together Deep Venous Thromboses DVT and Pulmonary Embolus PE may be responsible for more than 100,000 deaths each year, but there is reason to believe that the true incidence rate could be significantly higher, as several studies suggest that these diseases are often undiagnosed. One thing is undeniably clear—DVT and PE are major national public health problems that have dramatic, negative impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands Americans each year.

Furthermore over 500,000 million people suffer from DVT or PE in the US each year. One thing is certain awareness of the risk factors for DVT can decrease the number of people that ultimately die from this disorder and increase the number of people who ultimately receive the appropriate treatment.

Did you know that simply stopping to take a break and walk outside your vehicle can reduce your risk of DVT during long trips or the use of medical grade compression stockings can be life saving?

Paste the link in your browser to get a free risk assessment the venous disease foundation.

http://www.venousdiseasecoalition.org/resources/risk-quiz.php

Although we released our book, Your Guide to Optimal Health (www.personalwellnesswheel.com) more than a year ago, it seems that as potential health care reform gains momentum, the importance of a preventative approach to health is increasingly appreciated. We just finished a short interview segment on CNN about the book's philosophy of taking the initiative and responsibilty for one's personal health. It is exactly the philosophy that MedHelp promotes. Use the available resources, including other experiences to make your self as healthy as possible.  There are so many components of personal health stress reduction, nutrition, exercise, healthy lifestyle etc that it is impossible for your doctor to cover all of these areas. They are critically important, however your PCP is not equipped or trained to handle all of those and is not paid to provide those things. In this regard, our healthcare system has failed to support a preventative philosophy. Thank goodness for innovative resources like MedHelp, a community for health answers. Remember that the best gift you can give someone for the holidays is good health. Its the gift that keeps on giving

Like many of you, I have watched intently as the heated debate regarding healthcare reform plays out in front of us. To be clear, the discussion to date is more about universal healthcare coverage than it is about reform of how we manage medical illness. As a practicing vascular surgeon, I see the consequences that lack of insurance has with Americans. No American should feel comfortable with the  contrast that in the wealthiest country in the world, 20,000 people per year should die from otherwise treatable illness because of lack of insurance.  The idea is horrifying and I think it is a moral imperative that we make a decision about how to care for all Americans.

That was the socially conscious part of me. The Ted Kennedy liberal if you will. The fiscally responsible part of me cannot understand the discussion that does not include any mention of how we plan to address the purple elephant in the room, Childhood and Adult obesity. In a little over 3 decades the obesity rate has doubled in adults and tripled in children. By various studies, obesity is responsible for up to 30% of our increased health spending over that time. Diseases like diabetes, heart attack and stroke and arthritis all brought on and worsened by obesity cost hundreds of billions of dollars to manage each year.  These disorders occur disproportionately in people of lower socio economic class and minorities.

So I don’t understand the reasoning that America, the most overweight and obese country in the world will now provide healthcare to all citizens.  Obesity is clearly a cause of multiple costly chronic diseases.  The rate of obesity is increasing at an alarming rate to the extent that this generation of adolescents may be the first generation to routinely die before their parents.  In some groups of Americans, the rate of obesity and overweight is expected to be nearly 90% within 30 years.  

Without any well elucidated plan laid out to me to address the obesity epidemic, I ask all of you to tell me where the money will come from to support our obese Country.  I referred to it as the purple elephant because Im not the only one that knows the absence of logic about the feasibility of this type of reform without a multi pronged attack successful attack on obesity.

To be clear, the theory of universal coverage makes complete sense from a moral and ethical standpoint.The practicality of me, my children and generations to come paying for it with increasing taxes because it was poorly thought out does not.

A new article published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that physicians may be overusing xray tests. The cumulative exposure to radiation that patients experience may be harmful and cause long term problems such as cancer. Unfortunately, there has been very little discussion with patients regarding the potentially harmful consequences of commonly ordered xray tests. Furthermore, physicians and patients will need to become more vigilant in determining that the benefits of x ray exams outweigh the detriment going forward. Question: has your doctor ever discussed the potential harm before you underwent and x ray??

Atlanta, GA - Medical imaging procedures expose many nonelderly patients to substantial doses of ionizing radiation, according to the results of a new study [1]. Myocardial perfusion imaging alone accounts for 22% of the radiation dose from all study procedures, while computed-tomography (CT) scans of the abdomen, pelvis, and chest account for nearly 38%, report investigators.

"Our findings that in some patients worrisome radiation doses from imaging procedures can accumulate over time underscores the need to improve their use," write lead investigator Dr Reza Fazel (Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA) and colleagues. "Unlike the exposure of workers in healthcare and the nuclear industry, which can be regulated, the exposure of patients cannot be restricted, largely because of the inherent difficulty in balancing the immediate clinical need for these procedures, which is frequently substantial, against the stochastic risks of cancer that would not be evident for years, if at all."

The analysis, which studied 952 420 adults aged 18 to 64 years in five US cities, is published in the August 27, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

During the study period, which ran from 2005 to 2007, 655 613 adults underwent at least one imaging procedure associated with radiation exposure. The mean effective dose was 2.4 mSv per person per year, although a wide distribution was noted. Moreover, the proportion of subjects undergoing procedures and their mean doses varied according to age, sex, and city. For example, approximately 50% of adults aged 18 to 34 years underwent a medical imaging procedure requiring radiation, whereas 86% of adults 60 to 64 years of age were sent for similar testing. Women also underwent imaging procedures significantly more often than men.