One American dies every 32 seconds of cardiovascular disease, disorders of the heart and blood vessels.  Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, costing society over 83.7 billion dollars each year in health services, medications and lost work time due to disability.  Stroke, a disorder of the blood vessels to the brain, is the third leading cause of death and disability in this country, with 500,000 new strokes occurring annually.

Each year, 2 million people in the United States alone develop deep vein thrombosis-blood clots in the veins.  This affliction becomes life threatening for 500,000 of those people when the blood clot breaks loose and travels to their lungs.  With early detection through the use of noninvasive vascular testing, this disease can be prevented.

Although life threatening if undetected, early detection of these vascular diseases is possible through the use of noninvasive vascular testing techniques performed within vascular laboratories.

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The Heart & Vascular Center, – which services Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte Counties, was among the first 1,100 vascular laboratories in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico to be granted accreditation by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL).

The ICAVL, a non-profit organization established with the support of ten medical societies, provides a mechanism for accrediting facilities which perform comprehensive testing for vascular disease with noninvasive testing modalities.  Ten sponsoring societies represent the medical specialties of radiology, ultrasonography, vascular surgery, neurology, cardiology, neurosurgery and internal medicine.

Accreditation status signifies that the facility has been reviewed by an independent agency, which recognizes the laboratory’s commitment of quality testing for diagnosis of vascular disease.  Participation in the accreditation on process demonstrates the laboratory’s concern for high quality patient care and attention to quality assurance.