CVD Diagnostics and Advanced Screening Tools

Woman standing on boardwalk at sunset with chest overlay, symbolizing advanced cardiovascular diagnostics
Go back to homepage

Detecting Heart Disease Before It Starts

Cardiovascular disease develops along a spectrum—beginning with common risk factors long before structural damage becomes apparent. The earliest detectable change is damage to the glycocalyx, the protective lining of the blood vessels. Once the glycocalyx is compromised, the endothelium underneath becomes vulnerable, leading to dysfunction, arterial stiffness, and the formation of early vascular plaque.

As the disease progresses, plaque builds up in the coronary arteries and eventually hardens into calcified arteries. This stage marks advanced, established heart disease and is usually when traditional medicine steps in, often only after significant damage has already occurred.

At Nova Wellness, we take a different approach. We use advanced diagnostics to detect changes at the very beginning, long before symptoms appear or serious damage is done. This allows us to create personalized, root-cause plans to slow, stop, and even reverse the process, protecting your heart and your health for decades to come.

‍

‍

Risk Factor Assessment

  • Advanced Laboratory Testing - We begin by examining your unique biology to uncover the underlying factors that contribute to arterial wall damage and plaque formation. While traditional lab tests offer only a limited view, our approach goes much deeper. We utilize advanced lipid panels alongside comprehensive biomarkers that assess inflammation, oxidative stress, and insulin resistance—key drivers of cardiovascular disease that often go undetected in standard testing.
  • Genomic & SNP Analysis - Each of us is born with a unique genetic blueprint—some genes that offer protection and others that may increase our risk for disease. By identifying your specific genetic variants, we gain actionable insights that allow us to counterbalance the effects of high-risk genes and enhance the expression of protective ones. This empowers us to shift the odds in favor of your long-term health.
  • DEXA & InBody Composition Analysis - By assessing body composition and identifying levels of visceral fat, we can uncover a hidden source of internal inflammation and metabolic stress that often goes unnoticed. Visceral fat surrounds vital organs and contributes to systemic inflammation—undermining the protective barriers of your blood vessels and accelerating cardiovascular disease. See more here: Why we chose DEXA, InBody and Echolight
  • AI-Powered Muscular Strength Assessment -We selected an AI-powered full body strength assessment because it offers a precise, efficient, and highly repeatable way to measure muscular performance—something traditional or purely functional assessments often struggle to deliver. Unlike subjective or coach-dependent evaluations, this approach uses adaptive digital resistance to quantify strength across key movement patterns with accuracy and consistency.

It allows us to:

  • Capture detailed, objective data on peak force, power, and muscle imbalances
  • Track small but meaningful changes in strength over time with minimal variability
  • Automatically adjust resistance in real-time, ensuring safe and effort-based testing
  • Assess multiple muscle groups quickly, without requiring multiple tools or testers
  • Identify asymmetries or weaknesses early, supporting more personalized intervention

While functional strength benchmarks (like carries or squats) are valuable, especially for real-world tasks, we chose an AI-powered method because it gives us the kind of high-resolution insight needed to quantify progress, tailor programming, and monitor musculoskeletal health with confidence.

  • RMR & VO₂max Metabolic Testing - By evaluating metabolic efficiency at rest and the body’s ability to utilize oxygen during peak exercise, we gain a dynamic assessment of cardiovascular resilience. These measurements allow us to identify specific, modifiable contributors such as poor mitochondrial function, low aerobic capacity, or impaired metabolic flexibility. Importantly, these markers correlate linearly with cardiovascular events, offering both a predictive tool and a way to track the effectiveness of lifestyle and therapeutic interventions over time.

Early Detection Testing

  • Glycocheck and EndoPAT - The first line of defense for your blood vessels is a thin, gel-like layer called the glycocalyx, with a second critical layer—the endothelium—just beneath it. Together, they protect against plaque buildup. By assessing the integrity of these layers and interpreting their condition in the context of damaging influences—such as inflammation, oxidative stress, elevated blood sugar, or environmental toxins—we can reverse-engineer a personalized strategy to repair, strengthen, and preserve this vital vascular barrier.
  • SphyngmoCor Arterial Stiffness Testing - By measuring central blood pressure and arterial stiffness, we gain a more accurate understanding of the pressure your heart and brain are truly exposed to—information that traditional arm cuffs often miss. This allows us to detect and manage hidden hypertension, while also assessing your vascular age, a key indicator of cardiovascular risk and overall arterial health.
  • Carotid Intima-Media Thickness (CIMT) - By directly visualizing early signs of plaque buildup in the carotid arteries, we gain valuable insight into how underlying mechanisms—such as inflammation, oxidative stress, and endothelial dysfunction—are beginning to impact your arterial walls. This allows us to detect cardiovascular disease at its earliest stage, giving us the opportunity to intervene decades before a serious event occurs.
  • Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring (CAC) - The amount of calcium in your coronary arteries reflects the burden of past arterial injury. When plaque builds up in the artery walls, the body often responds by stabilizing it with calcium—essentially “patching” the damage to reduce the risk of rupture. A higher calcium score indicates more of this healed, stabilized plaque and a greater history of vascular stress and can be used as insight to guide how aggressively to manage potential root causes of CVD.
  • CCTA with AI-Based Plaque Composition - the most advanced tool available for assessing the immediate risk of a heart attack. While other diagnostics offer insight into long-term risk and the mechanisms driving cardiovascular disease, CCTA with AI quantifies the total plaque burden currently present in the arteries, but also characterizes the type, structure, and vulnerability of plaque—distinguishing between stable calcified plaque and high-risk, soft or mixed plaque that is more likely to rupture and trigger an acute event. This level of precision allows for highly targeted, proactive interventions to prevent heart attacks.