Medical Tests & Procedures Archive

Research we're watching

Need another reason to quit smoking? A study published in the September 2020 issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry found that women ages 30 to 60 who smoked had four times the risk of having a brain aneurysm (a weakened artery in the brain that bulges and could burst) compared with nonsmokers.

Researchers looked at nearly 550 women who had a brain scan performed, most often because of persistent headaches. The scans showed that 113 of them had one or more brain aneurysms. These individuals were then matched with 113 people who did not have brain aneurysms. In comparing the two groups, the researchers found not only that smoking drove up the risk of finding a brain aneurysm, but also that women who both smoked and had high blood pressure had seven times the risk compared to nonsmokers with normal blood pressure. If future research shows that smokers also have a significantly higher risk of brain aneurysm rupture, women smokers ages 30 to 60 might be candidates for aneurysm screening.

The operation to replace a clouded lens is low-risk, fast, and effective, but requires some decision making.

 Image: CJ_Romas/ Thinkstock

Cataract surgery—which involves removing the eye's clouded lens and replacing it with a clear synthetic version—once required several days in the hospital and a long recovery period. Today it is performed under local anesthesia on an outpatient basis, and people are back to their normal lives within days. The success rate is high, and the rate of vision-threatening complications is relatively low. For people with cataracts, the decision whether to have surgery may be easy to make. However, two additional decisions might be more difficult: when to have surgery and what type of lens implant to get, says Dr. Laura Fine, an ophthalmologist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

Why you may need cataract surgery

To a great extent, cataracts are a normal consequence of aging. Cataract formation is usually a gradual process that plays out over years. The lenses of our eyes become less transparent, less resilient, and often thicker. By age 80, half of us will have cataracts.

Ask the doctor

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Q. My recent cholesterol test result included "non-HDL cholesterol." What is the significance of this number?

A. Your non-HDL cholesterol result refers to your total cholesterol value minus your HDL cholesterol. When you get your blood drawn for a cholesterol test (also known as a lipid profile or lipid panel), the report usually includes four numbers: low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol; high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol; triglycerides; and total cholesterol.

This screening test is simple and painless, but it isn't appropriate for most people.

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For years, for-profit companies have mailed offers for health screening tests to homes across the United States. For about $150, you can undergo a series of ultrasound scans, which the companies claim can uncover potentially dangerous cardiovascular conditions. One scan looks at your carotid arteries, which run up either side of your neck.

Just like arteries in the heart and elsewhere in the body, the carotid arteries can become clogged with fatty deposits. Narrowing of a carotid artery (also called carotid artery stenosis) can increase the risk of stroke — the narrower the artery, the higher the risk.

Ask the doctor

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Q. I recently got a coronary artery calcium scan and the results showed that I have quite a bit of calcium in my heart arteries (my score was 900). Should I have an angiogram to confirm the results? I don't have any heart-related symptoms, but I'm worried about having a heart attack.

A. That is a very high coronary artery calcium score. But the short answer to your question is no. The main reason to have an angiogram is to locate a narrowed heart artery that is causing chest pain or other symptoms. For the test, a cardiologist injects a dye that is visible on x-rays into the blood vessels of your heart, then takes a series of x-ray images. This is done in preparation for angioplasty, in which a narrowed artery is opened, or as a prelude to referral for coronary artery bypass surgery.

A stent can save your life during a heart attack, but can it help prevent one?

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An estimated two million people get coronary artery stents every year, and if you have coronary artery disease, there is a good chance your doctor will suggest you get one.

But do you really need it? In 2013, the American Medical Association issued a report that said stents were one of the most highly overused medical interventions.

Get an approved blood pressure device and follow these steps.

Monitoring your blood pressure at home has always made good sense. Blood pressure is one of the main indicators of cardiovascular health, and taking measurements is an important way to manage chronic conditions between doctor visits.

Now, with a pandemic under way and fewer people visiting their doctors, the case for monitoring blood pressure at home has never been stronger. Home monitoring yields valuable information for you and your physician, who'll be counting on you to provide accurate blood pressure measurements when you talk on the phone or in a video chat.

For monitoring conditions that contribute to heart attack and stroke, virtual doctor visits are much more convenient than in-person appointments. Where is this trend headed?

Virtual doctor visits — when you talk to a physician on a video call instead of during an in-person office exam — have been available in certain places for years. But they never really caught on until the pandemic hit earlier this year. Almost overnight, virtual care became an indispensable tool for managing coronavirus infections and other health conditions during the crisis.

In 2019, virtual visits accounted for fewer than 1% of the appointments at Mass General Brigham, a large health care system founded by Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). "But during the peak of the coronavirus surge in Boston, 80% of all visits were done virtually," says Dr. Lee Schwamm, director of the Center for TeleHealth at MGH and vice president of virtual care at Mass General Brigham.

What is the test?

A combination of blood test results and the findings seen on a fetal ultrasound can enable doctors to identify pregnancies that are at a higher risk for birth defects. Examples of birth defects that screening can identify are Down syndrome and neural tube defects (brain and spinal cord problems). If the screening tests suggest problems, your doctor might recommend additional tests, such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, to confirm the findings.

How do I prepare for the test?

Before having this test done, you need to think carefully about what you would do with the results once you have them. The results of these screening tests cannot show for sure whether you have either a healthy fetus or one with a problem. They can only suggest which patients might want to go ahead with further testing.

Could a closer look at your mammogram help guide efforts to prevent heart disease?

Your mammogram could offer a glimpse at more than just the health of your breasts. It may also provide important clues about your heart.

When a radiologist reads a mammogram, she or he sometimes sees little white streaks that look like lines of chalk inside the arteries of your breast. These lines are actually deposits of calcium called arterial calcifications. If you have them, it could mean that you have similar deposits in other arteries inside your body, including those that bring blood to your heart muscle — a known risk factor for heart disease.