The carotid artery in the cross-sectional ultrasound image below demonstrates a 30% blockage of the left internal carotid artery by a soft plaque, the kind that can be vulnerable to rupture, resulting in a stroke. This is one side of a pair of neck arteries that are the main suppliers of blood to the brain. In numerous clinical studies over decades, these findings have been found to accurately represent the overall burden of arterial disease in an individual's entire arterial system, including the coronary arteries of the heart.
The carotid artery scan above showing the blockage actually belonged to the founder of InSight Ultrasound Specialists, Robert Rosner. This scan was taken when Mr. Rosner was only 42 years of age.This disease was discovered incidentally in December 1999, while Mr. Rosner was setting up a new ultrasound machine in a North Naples Imaging center and decided to scan his own carotid arteries to test the image quality of the new machine. This finding was of great concern being such a young age, and the consequences of this advanced disease in the near term could have been catastrophic... if this disease were not to be detected at all.
A crucial observation to note regarding Mr. Rosner's disease, his blood pressure, cholesterol values, and other risk values including family history, were all within normal limits. Mr. Rosner wondered "how can this be happening...to me?"
Mr. Rosner seeked the advice of a local Cardiologist. The ultrasound scan above was presented to the Cardiologist during this visit. A minimal treatment regimen was ordered. The soft plaque formation shown in the previous scan regressed completely in the course of 2 1/2 years after Mr. Rosner repeated his own scan again as seen below:
Plaque reversal and regression.... proof positive that it is possible to control, and even reverse, arterial disease....provided you and your physician know it is actually present in the first place.
This is why InSight Ultrasound Specialists can help you prevent a stroke or heart attack by finding out if you are developing arterial disease EARLY, before it is too late and well advanced.
This incident was the main reason and inspiration that drove Mr. Rosner to form InSight Ultrasound Specialists, Inc. His goal is to make physicians, health advocates, and people of all ages and risk categories aware of unsuspected disease or abnormally accelerated vascular aging which cannot be seen or assessed by other imaging procedures or blood tests.
Research studies have shown that high-resolution ultrasound findings, in addition to a Carotid IMT "vascular aging" examination of the carotid arteries, accurately represent the entire vascular system's atherosclerotic disease burden. Carotid IMT is a proven sensitive monitor and reliable indicator of heart attack and stroke risk beyond the landmark Framingham Heart Study and Risk Score, especially in the low and intermediate risk population.
