Blood Work Analysis

I have had patients that are concerned about some health matter, whether it’s due to a family history of certain diseases or they read something and they think they may have it. However, they don’t seek treatment because they are afraid of the cost of testing.  I am here to tell you that peace of mind can be a miracle cure and tests do not need to be cost prohibitive. For instance, a specialized lipid panel that can help assess your cardiac risk generally costs around $200, when billed through your insurance. However, if you chose to pay out of pocket, the cost is about $15. If a patient has a family history of heart disease and would like to know their risk for heart disease, a full cardiac panel that would include a lipid panel + the lipoprotein breakdown + fibrinogen activity + Hemoglobin A1c + hs-CRP + Homocysteine level costs approximately $122.

So what do these tests look for?

Lipid panel = cholesterol breakdown.

Lipoprotein breakdown = measures and breaks down yLDLs (bad cholesterol) by size, density and electrical charge. This allows us to measure the percentage of bad cholesterol you have that is more detrimental for your cardiovascular system. It’s also excellent in evaluating risk of developing cardiovascular disease and monitoring effectiveness of treatment for lowering cholesterol.

Fibrinogen activity = clotting time and risk of cardiovascular disease.

Hemoglobin A1C = blood sugar balance over extended period of time

hs-CRP = cardiac inflammation

Homocysteine = heart attack risk