Coronary Heart Disease is the most common form of heart disease in this country and the primary cause of heart attacks. It is the single largest killer of American men and women resulting in more premature deaths than any other illness, more than cancer and accidents combined. In men, the first symptom of heart disease is commonly a heart attack and 50 percent of firsttime heart attacks are fatal causing more than 550,000 deaths each year commonly in the prime of life. Almost everyone has heard a story of some strong vital hardworking man who suddenly drops dead just as he was settling into retirement or finished paying off his mortgage. This man most likely had no symptoms prior to the attack, that was caused by sudden plaque rupture of mild cholesterol deposits in the walls of his coronary arteries.

Women develop coronary artery disease somewhat later in life and “catch up” with men by 65 to 70 years old when deaths due to coronary heart disease are comparable to or greater than men.

The Weatherhead PET Imaging Center for Preventing and Reversing Atherosclerosis is dedicated to the primary prevention of death and disability from heart disease. We accomplish this in two steps: First, detecting heart disease early with PET imaging, the most sensitive and accurate noninvasive test for finding early heart disease. Second, by educating people and implementing lifestyle changes and medications to correct the causes of heart disease in the people at highest risk for it.