Heart disease causes nearly half of deaths and disability in Americans between the ages of 35 and 64. In fact, twenty to forty percent of middle aged people have early or advanced coronary disease, most without knowing it. But this deadly disease can be prevented or reversed without surgery, if detected, thanks to the pioneering efforts of K. Lance Gould, M.D., a cardiovascular specialist at the University of Texas-Houston Medical School.
UT-Houston's PET (Positron Emission Tomography) Center is the leading clinical facility of its kind in the country. It is here, with the assistance of the PET scanner, where Gould is able to create extremely accurate three-dimensional and cross-sectional computer images of the blood flow and metabolism of the heart revealing narrowings of the coronary arteries and their severity with an accuracy rate of 95 percent or better.
"The PET scan is the single most effective diagnostic tool for heart disease. It is comparable to holding the human heart in one's hand and examining it inside and out while it's functioning," says Gould. "Detection of heart disease by the PET is not only astonishinly precise, it is far superior to traditional methods such as ECG monitoring, nuclear studies or coronary angiograms. It is also more cost effective."
Most importantly, Gould notes, a PET scan can detect signs of heart disease 10-15 years before symptoms appear. Therefore, reversal treatment under Gould's program can begin before heart disease progresses or a patient suffers a heart attack. Gould's program also helps manage patients who have already had heart attacks and who exhibit symptoms of heart disease.
Gould's comprehensive, non-invasive program is customized for each patient. Recently, grateful patient Albert J. Weatherhead III gave the UT-Houston Medical School's Department of Internal Medicine a $3 million gift to establish the Weatherhead PET Center for Preventing and Reversing Atherosclerosis. This is the largest gift from an individual donor that the Medical School has ever received.
Five years ago, Weatherhead, then a 67-year-old heart patient with a severe coronary artery blockage was referred to Gould by Dean Ornish, M.D.. Weatherhead began an aggressive treatment regimen featuring cholesterol-lowering drug therapy, a high-protein, low-fat diet and exercise program. Multi-vitamins, vitamin antioxidants and aspirin were also included in his treatment. Under Gould's care, Weatherhead was able to reverse his heart disease without surgery.
"Dr. Gould has given me the tools I need to manage my cardiovascular problem," said Weatherhead. "We are on the threshold of enabling patients around the world to care for themselves. You need to be a partner with your doctor. Our gift creates an opportunity for the world to be a partner with UT-Houston in its pioneering efforts."
The Weatherhead gift also includes a challenge grant, under which an additional $1 million will be added to the endowment if UT-Houston successfully raises $3 million to match his gift through private contributions by December 1999.
Founded in 1953 by A.J. Weatherhead Jr., the Cleveland-based Weatherhead Foundation is a family foundation that concentrates its grants on higher education.
The Weatherhead Foundation gift will greatly assist Gould in his efforts to develop and promote prevention and reversal treatment of cardiovascular disease. It will also enable him to train many more doctors and nurses so that more patients can benefit from his treatment.
"I want to publicly thank the Weatherheads for their support of Dr. Gould's pioneering work," Medical School Dean L. Maximilian Buja, M.D., said. "The Weatherheads have now made it possible to raise this important work to an even higher level."
"This endowment will greatly assist our continuing efforts to fight cardiovascular disease -- the number one killer in the United States," M. David Low, M.D., Ph.D., president of UT-Houston said.
The Gould guidelines for preventing and reversing vascular or coronary disease are practical, easy, individualized and readily integrated in the the daily lives of patients. Based on modern science and medicine, the guidelines embody simple principles that anyone can apply to prevent or reverse heart disease.
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