Those of us that try to eat right, exercise and take nutrients to improve health hope that these efforts translate into improved quality and quantity of life. But how do we know? Sure, we can look at blood work such as cholesterol and this gives some of the answer. Blood pressure is also important. But how can we actually assess the health of our vascular system from a functional perspective? Simple… EndoPAT. EndoPAT is a diagnostic tool that measures endothelial function in a non-invasive fashion. So what is endothelial function anyways? Endothelial function is a measure of the compliance, or dispensability, of your arteries. When the compliance of your arteries diminishes, we call this endothelial dysfunction (think “hardening of the arteries”). Endothelial dysfunction occurs long before a plaque forms in the artery. What that means is that you could have a major problem and a cardiac catheterization could be completely normal. That’s because the lumen of the artery is not blocked by a plaque. But the “hardening” is already taking place. This is not routinely tested for… until now!
EndoPAT is not a routine test ordered by your primary care doctor or most cardiologists. Functional Medicine doctors use it regularly though. Dr. Mark Houston is a functional medicine cardiologist and considers EndoPAT the gold standard for assessing endothelial function. Our Functional Medicine / Wellness division at Performance Spine & Sports Medicine routinely offers EndoPAT testing to our patients. It only takes about twenty minutes to complete the test and it’s 100% non-invasive. It’s covered by insurance and poses no risk to patients. There is absolutely no reason not to have a baseline test done. What’s more is you can repeat the study a year later and see if anything has changed (for the better hopefully).
Endothelial function can be improved in many ways. The purpose of EndoPAT is to identify a problem early. Once endothelial function happens, the next step is plaque formation which is the harbinger to a heart attack. There are multiple ways to improve endothelial function including the following:
To schedule your EndoPAT evaluation, simply call the office and tell our staff you would like to schedule this testing. Comprehensive lipid particle testing along with micronutrient panels allows us to make the ultimate individualized health recommendations for you.
