Q. I have a doctor. Why do I need Life Line Screening?
A. Life Line Screening is not trying to replace your doctor. We are simply trying to provide you and your doctor with more information that can help you to reduce your risk for complications from vascular disease and osteoporosis. Life Line Screening is a non-referral service. We want you to work with your General Practitioner.
Q. Can my GP do this type of general health screening as part of my routine physical?
A. Certainly your GP can offer diagnostic level tests if you have symptoms and there is a specific cause. The NHS does not currently offer preventive screenings of this type, although that may change. Our goal is to help identify risk for cardiovascular disease at an early enough stage that you and your GP can begin preventive procedures, be it lifestyle changes or perhaps medical management.
Q. Why should I have these tests done if I have no symptoms?
A. Unfortunately, your body's warning signs often come too late. Since more than half of the individuals who have a stroke show no symptoms prior to the attack, it is important to have a screening to identify problems before symptoms arise and potentially avoid a serious problem. The vast majority of individuals who have an abdominal aortic aneurysm also have no symptoms. The mortality rate of a ruptured AAA is greater than 80%. Osteoporosis is another "silent" disease that can be detected, prevented and treated. It is not an inevitable fact of aging. We want to motivate individuals to become aware of signs and symptoms and to modify lifestyles for personal health and wellness. These are some of the reasons why these screenings are so important.
Q. What happens when a problem is identified?
A. When our interpreting Consultant determines there is an abnormal finding, you will receive documentation of our findings along with a "Dear Doctor" letter advising follow-up with your GP. By focusing on preventive health, we hope to identify possible problems when lifestyle changes and medical management can be most effective. Surgery, while an important treatment option, may also be avoided if risk factors are identified earlier.
Q. Are you affiliated with any hospital?
A. We often partner with local hospitals but your medical information is private. We are a non-referral vascular screening service. All information and general health screening results are sent directly back to you to share with your own physician.
Q. Do I get the results of my general health screenings or do they go directly to my doctor?
A. The results of your health screening will be sent to you. If your results are within the normal range, you will receive a letter explaining the results. If we recommend further evaluation, you will receive a letter explaining your results, a written report of the screening results so that you can follow up with your GP. We will also include a letter, questionnaire and critique for both you and your doctor, so we can better monitor our quality and get valuable feedback on the screenings we provide.
Q. When will I receive my general health screening results?
A. Your results will be mailed within 21 working days.
Q. Why does it take so long to get the results?
A. If we find a condition that is life threatening, we will notify you on the day of the screening. Otherwise, your results must be read by one of our qualified and accredited Consultants and be sent on for processing and mailing.
Q. Who reads the health screenings, only the ultrasound team?
A. A fully qualified and accredited consultant.
Q. Will I get my pictures back?
A. You will receive printed images of your screenings only if we are recommending that you see your own physician for immediate evaluation. Otherwise you will receive a detailed written report.
Q. Why don't your results give percentages of blockages?
A. Our tests are screening in nature. If your results indicate severe disease, we refer you back to your own physician who may then order appropriate testing to give you the percentage of blockage. Our goal is simply to identify a potential problem before it causes any harm.
Q. What is the difference between a general health screening and a diagnostic study?
A. The objective of a preventive health screening is to separate the normal from the abnormal or questionable findings and send the person with the abnormal finding on for further follow-up studies to quantify the extent of the disease. The idea of a screening study is it should be inexpensive, readily available and very reliable with few false negatives. No study is 100% accurate. We should be willing to accept a false positive once in a while as a minor downside to not missing anything. That is the nature of any health screening study, whether it is a nuclear bone scan, PAP smear, or mammogram.
Q. How accurate are your health screenings?
A. Ultrasound is the most accurate technology we have that is safe, non-invasive and allows us to look directly into the carotid arteries to visualise plaque build up. Our adherence to a strict protocol, highly qualified technologists, state-of-the-art equipment and fully accredited interpreting physicians make our screenings extremely accurate.
Q. Where does Life Line Screening set up?
A. We use facilities such as churches, senior centres, civic buildings, corporations, etc. All screenings are performed on the property, inside the building. Depending on the size of the community, a 40'x40' room is required without steps, six tables and approximately 25 chairs.
Q. How often should I have these general health screenings done?
A. Many of our customers come back on a yearly basis. This is a personal decision based on your family history, age and other risk factors and the results of your screenings. Since plaque build up is a progressive disease, many people feel comfortable being screened annually as part of their preventive healthcare regimen.
Q. How long does it take to have the screenings done?
A. Each professional health screening takes less than ten minutes depending on the level of disease, your vascular anatomy and your body type. If you are having all five of our screenings, we recommend that you allocate one to one and a half hours of your time.
Q. I work; can I get a later appointment?
A. We try to accommodate working people with flexible appointments. We often have later appointments available and some screenings are offered on Saturdays.
Q. At what age should I be screened?
A. The Stroke Association indicates that an estimated 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke. That’s one person every five minutes. Most people affected are over 65, but anyone can have a stroke. As our focus is on preventive health and risk factors tend to increase with age, we recommend beginning screening at age 50. This supports our goal of identifying problems early, when lifestyle changes and medical management may be most effective.
Q. How long has Life Line Screening been a health screening service?
A. Life Line Screening has been in operation since 1993 in the United States. Services are offered throughout the continental United States and South East England. Our international headquarters are located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Our UK Offices are in West Sussex, UK.
Q. Are you a "for profit" or "not for profit" organisation?
A. We are a "for profit" organisation. Our goal is to make prevention affordable by offering our Vascular Package including our stroke/carotid artery, abdominal aortic aneurysm, peripheral arterial disease (all three of our tests at a discounted package price) for £139.
Q. What type of equipment is used?
A. Life Line Screening offers an affordable, high quality screening through the use of state-of-the-art Doppler colour flow ultrasound technology. We use the same ultrasound technology found in most hospitals.
Q. What are the qualifications of your ultrasound teams?
A. Our highly skilled and experienced sonographers have all completed formal training programmes in ultrasound and clinical rotations in a hospital environment as well as specialised training from Life Line Screening Clinical Managers and National Trainers.
Q. How can we be sure that your equipment is up to our standards?
A. We have full support plans for all of our imaging equipment with preventive maintenance performed two times a year. All machines perform a self-diagnostic check and continually recalibrate throughout the day.
Q. Can I have the health screenings if I have a pacemaker?
A. A pacemaker will not interfere with the screenings.
Q. Why are your tests shorter than those performed in hospitals?
A. Our focus is on screening, not diagnosis, so the process is less time consuming. Once we identify risk we will refer you back to your GP who may order diagnostic level testing. With our qualified technologists and state-of-the-art ultrasound machines, we are able to visualise the inside of the arteries, measure the velocity of the blood going through these arteries, and categorise the degree of the disease using abbreviated and accurate protocols.
Q. How can your company afford to do these professional health screenings for such a low cost?
A. Our screenings are done on a volume basis so the cost of equipment and staff is spread across a large number of people.
Q. I am concerned about privacy. How private is the testing area?
A. We use privacy screens to help separate the testing area from the waiting area.
Q. Can I eat or drink anything before these screenings?
A. It is important that you do not eat or drink anything but water at least four hours prior to the Abdominal Aortic Screening to lessen the interference of intestinal gas.
Q. Is Life Line Screening insured?
A. Yes.
