Dec. 5, 2021, 6:11 p.m.
Newsletter #12 - Practice Update, Two New Articles on LDL-Cholesterol and Atherosclerosis
Steven Kornweiss, MD
Practice Update
Kornweiss Medical started out in 2019 as a Direct Primary Care practice which focused on personalized preventive care, nutrition, and exercise. I also offered around the clock acute care and primary care. In the nearly three years since I began this endeavor, direct primary care has grown. There are now multiple excellent options for primary care in almost every metropolitan area, and many smaller towns as well.
Because it’s now possible for my patients to obtain attentive primary care services outside of my practice, I’ve decided to focus exclusively on helping people improve their healthspan and lifespan through personalized diagnostic and therapy plans.
What does this mean?
I am now offering personalized consultation packages to both members and non-members of the practice. A comprehensive consultation includes the following personalized deliverables:
- Cardiovascular Risk Assessment and Plan
- Cancer Screening Plan
- Exercise and Nutrition Recommendations
- Medication Recommendations and Prescription
- Supplementation Recommendations
- Specialist Referrals
- Preventive Care Schedule
Consultations are constructed and quoted on an individualized basis. If you are interested in learning more about these services, or know someone who is, please contact me through the website or by replying to this email.
Two New Articles
No Time To Die From An MI
“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” — Jack London
Each year, for roughly one in eight Americans, their time ends with a fatal obstruction of the coronary arteries, the vessels that supply blood to our hearts.
When a major coronary artery is suddenly obstructed, oxygen-rich blood ceases to flow to the corresponding area of heart muscle (myocardium). If blood flow is not quickly restored, the myocardium dies. This is commonly known as a heart attack; in medical terms: a myocardial infarction (abbreviated MI).
If the obstructed artery is a large one, a vast area of heart muscle will lose blood flow. This can result in sudden death. If the victim survives, their heart may be severely weakened. Trivial activities like taking out the trash or climbing the stairs now leave them breathless.
While I’ve been thinking more and more about the balance between living a full life and a long one, I’d prefer not to die from an MI while pondering such existential questions. So, I think often about cardiovascular disease.
Cardiovascular risk assessment and prevention is complex. Many risk factors can be considered. Among these, there are familiar factors like smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and “high cholesterol.”
The first four are relatively non-controversial, but the last one, “high cholesterol,” has been the center of controversy for decades.
What is LDL-Cholesterol?
The oversimplification of cardiovascular disease risk assessment—in which LDL-cholesterol is often the primary diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic target—leads to effective treatment of some people, but the ineffective treatment of others.
My goal in this article is for us to gain a more complete understanding of cholesterol for the purpose of taking an individualized approach to cardiovascular disease risk assessment and prevention.
This article is the first of several that will attempt to explain the factors that go into an individualized cardiovascular risk assessment.
In this article, we’ll focus on cholesterol, and specifically, the following questions.
- What is cholesterol?
- What is the function of cholesterol?
- Where does it come from?
- How does it get into and out of your body?
- How does cholesterol move around in the blood?
- Why do people say that LDL-cholesterol is bad?
- Is it true that higher LDL-cholesterol is bad and lower is good?
-Steve