Heart disease doesn't announce itself. It builds quietly, over years, inside the walls of your arteries, long before a blood test flags anything and long before symptoms show up. By the time a cardiac event happens, the disease has usually been developing for a decade or more.
The CIMT scan sees it early. That's the point.
The carotid arteries run along both sides of your neck and supply blood to your brain. The intima and media are the two inner layers of the artery wall. As cardiovascular disease develops, these layers thicken and plaque begins to accumulate. That thickening is measurable with ultrasound long before it causes symptoms or shows up on a standard blood panel.
A CIMT scan uses high-resolution ultrasound to measure the thickness of those arterial walls and detect the presence of early plaque. The result gives your physician a direct, structural picture of your vascular age and cardiovascular risk that no blood test can replicate.
It's non-invasive. It takes about 20 minutes. And it tells you something your lipid panel cannot.
The ARIC study, one of the largest cardiovascular research studies ever conducted, found that CIMT was approximately 9 times more predictive of cardiovascular events than elevated LDL cholesterol alone.
A person with a normal LDL can have significant arterial disease already developing, and a person with elevated LDL may have clean arteries. The standard lipid panel tells you about particles in your blood. The CIMT tells you what those particles have done to your arteries over time.
Available to both Code 1 members and the general public. You don't need to be a member to schedule one.
Bilateral intima-media thickness measurement using clinical-grade equipment.
Identification of early atherosclerotic plaque before symptoms develop.
A direct measure of how your arteries compare to your chronological age.
Full body composition analysis included with your CIMT appointment.
All results reviewed and explained in person by Dr. Cashio.
If you complete a CIMT scan and decide to enroll in a Code 1 membership within 30 days, the $299 CIMT cost is credited toward your enrollment fee. The CIMT pairs powerfully with the Code 1 Advanced Labs panel for the most complete non-invasive cardiovascular risk assessment available outside of a formal cardiology workup.
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