Carotid Artery Ultrasound and Longevity

The opposite of longevity is death. If longevity is what we seek we must obsess about death, and those things that increase the risk of us dying.

#1 Killer – Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer on the block claiming the lives of 1 in every 3 people worldwide. Almost 1 million people a year die from cardiovascular disease in the United States alone, often due to events like heart attacks and strokes. The main cause of cardiovascular disease is atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis

Thickening and hardening of the artery walls caused by the deposition of plaque (made of cholesterol, fats, other materials) into the blood vessel walls. Plaques can slowly grow causing occlusion of a blood vessel (stenosis). Plaques can also rupture, leading to blood clots (ischemic heart attacks, strokes, and other infarctions). Plaques can also break away from the walls, forming emboli (also causing ischemic heart attacks, strokes, and other infarctions).

Infarction: Obstruction of blood supply to an organ or region of tissue (usually from a blood clot or embolis)

Thickening of blood vessel walls, plaques, and restriction of blood flow can all be visualized using Carotid ultrasound. In the body, if blood vessel disease (e.g. atherosclerosis) is seen at one area, it is likely present in other areas as well. As such:

Carotid Ultrasound is a very important Longevity Metric.

For the complete blog post check out fullscope.org/blog or longetrics.org/blog