Our Preventative Cardiovascular Center
PRIMA HEART Wellness
The PRIMA HEART Wellness Program offers guidance to reduce the chance of cardiac events, chronic disease, and disability and to optimize cardiac health, fitness and longevity. We start with a comprehensive consultation and evaluation with access to the full resources of medical, laboratory facilities and diagnostic imaging. Also, limited risk profiling and cardiovascular screenings are available to individuals, groups, and businesses.
This Cardiac and Wellness Program integrates traditional diagnostic expertise with the up to date knowledge and research in cardiology and preventive medicine. Your evaluation is individualized according to your personal health needs and is strictly confidential. Your care will be coordinated by our team of cardiologists and health care professionals, along with other specialty physicians as needed.
Comprehensive medical and lifestyle programs in nutrition, fitness, and strategies for change are utilized to achieve improved health, performance and longevity. We apply an approach of personalized medicine to achieve "the right intervention for the right individual at the right time."
Lipid Management
The epidemic of heart disease has been fueled by diets high in saturated fats, bad carbohydrates, salt, obesity, smoking, and sedentary lifestyle. Before offering lipid modification therapy for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, all other modifiable risk factors should be considered and their management optimized. These include body mass index and waist circumference, diet and nutrition, weight loss, exercise, tobacco use, and assessment of comorbidities and secondary causes of dyslipidemia.
Trials of statin therapy have demonstrated that in patients at risk, reduction in LDL can significantly reduce cardiovascular events irregardless of baseline LDL. Use of other lipid lowering medications, as well as targeting HDL (good) cholesterol raising, and lowering of triglycerides are specifically addressed within all our programs, and with the most current knowledge in the field of lipidology applied. Aggressive and judicious use of all of lipid therapies with lifestyle modification are the elements of our management programs with the goal of preventing progression of disease at all stages.
For both primary and secondary prevention, adherence to treatment is of utmost importance. Convincing people who feel well that that they need lifestyle change or lifelong drug treatment requires high quality information and communication with ongoing support. This is the focus of our advanced lipid management and preventive intervention.
Diet, Weight Reduction and Exercise Program
Creating a weight loss lifestyle integrates healthy diet, long term and daily activity with as much exercise as optimal for an individual. A personalized program will be individualized, based on factors of 
one's age, body habitus, current weight status and profile, current activity level and physical limitations, as well as clinical health elements and needs.
With respect to exercise, an optimal program will be recommended for an individual to include aerobic exercise, core strength development, weight and resistance training, and flexibility and with personal preference for enjoyment and long-term success.
Regarding diet and nutrition, after assessment of current diet profile, the focus includes not only calorie restriction, portion management, lifestyle modifications, but in particular selection of health food choices or diet specific to one's needs. For example, for an individual who is overweight, has metabolic syndrome, or has lipid abnormalities, development of their diet plan will be focused on addressing their metabolic profile based on clinical evidence based guidelines.
The key element to success is motivation and continued guidance and support with the health and wellness professionals.
Creating a weight loss lifestyle integrates healthy diet, long term and daily activity with as much exercise as optimal for an individual. A personalized program will be individualized, based on factors of one's age, body habits, current weight status and profile, current activity level and physical limitations, as well as clinical health elements and needs.
Smoking Cessation
Smoking is still the leading preventable cause of death in the US. Not only does tobacco smoke cause lung cancer, it is also a primary risk factor for development and increased progression of cardiovascular disease, particularly in women. Research from major clinical studies as the "Nurse's Health Study" have shown that current smokers had almost triple the risk of overall death compared to women who had never smoked. Current smokers also had a 63% increased risk of colon cancer. Women who started smoking earlier in life were at higher risk for overall mortality.
However, a smoker's overall risk of dying returned to the level of a never smoker 20 years after quitting. Most of the excess risk of dying from coronary heart disease abated within 5 years of quitting. Women who quit smoking have a 47% lower risk of dying from coronary heart disease within 5 years of quitting. It's never too early to stop and it's never too late to quit!
Tobacco dependence is a chronic disease that often requires repeated intervention and multiple attempts to quit. Effective treatments exist that can significantly increase rates of long term abstinence. Brief tobacco dependence treatment is effective. There are numerous effective medications for tobacco dependence. Seven first line medications reliably increase long-term smoking abstinence rates:
Nicotine gum, nicotine inhaler, nicotine lozenge, nicotine nasal spray, nicotine patch, Varenicline (chantix), and Buproprion SR (Zybon).
Combinations of these medications are also effective. Counseling and ongoing support in combination with the above medication however is more effective than either alone.
The impact of smoking in Cardiovascular disease and stroke
- Cigarette smokers are 2 -4 times more likely to develop CAD, the leading cause of death.
- The risk of stroke is about double
- Smoking causes reduced circulation by narrowing blood vessels
- Smokers are more than 10 times as likely to develop PAD
- Smoking also causes abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Smoking produces a greater risk for CAD in people younger than 50