SHAPE Center
SHAPE focuses on the prevention of a first heart attack, especially in the vulnerable population at risk of a future heart attack. Heart disease kills more than 500,000 people a year in the United States, more than all cancers combined. It is also the leading killer of women, more than the next seven causes combined.
For 50 percent of individuals with coronary artery disease, their first symptom is a heart attack or sudden death.
Cedars-Sinai is a leader in establishing and promoting best practices in heart attack prevention. Utilizing guidelines from SHAPE, the Society for Heart Attack Prevention and Eradication, the program provides early screening for the detection of the earliest signs of heart disease. SHAPE is led by Daniel Berman, MD, Asher Kimchi, MD, and Prediman K. Shah, MD, of the Smidt Heart Institute.
The program recommends the use of non-invasive atherosclerosis imaging tests for at-risk men over age 45 and at-risk women over age 55: either coronary calcium scanning (CCS) using computed tomography (CT) or carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) scanning using ultrasound. Both tests have been shown to assess an asymptomatic individual’s heart-attack risk far more effectively than relying on measuring risk factors such as cholesterol.
Research has now found these two non-invasive, painless and quick scans, coronary calcium scans and carotid intima-media thickness tests, can detect the first signs of heart attack risk, providing you with the opportunity and motivation to change your lifestyle to reduce your risk of a heart attack.
Learn more about Preventing Heart Attacks.
Call 310-423-8000 to schedule an appointment. You will need to provide the phone number of a physician to whom the results will be sent.
Heart Attack Prevention
The Preventive and Consultative Heart Center connects patients with medical experts who detect, prevent and treat heart disease, applying the latest advancements in cardiology to the specific needs of individual patients.