The VAP Cholesterol Test

The VAP Cholesterol Test

While the lipid panel has been used for years to diagnose high cholesterol and triglycerides, there are other tests that can give us more helpful information, thanks to advances in technology. One of these tests is the VAP test developed by Atherotech Diagnostic Lab.

The problem with the standard lipid panel is that it does not give us enough information to detect hidden heart disease risk. Most of us know someone who has heart disease or who had a heart attack despite having a normal cholesterol level. Because this is happening, this tells us that there is more to cholesterol than what the lipid panel tells us.

Why The VAP Test

At the leading cause of death of men and women in the US, heart disease kills more than half a million people each year. And the routine cholesterol test doesn’t even identify half of those at risk.

The VAP test can analyze cholesterol beyond the total cholesterol, LDL and HDL levels. The test analyzes cholesterol further to better assess not only heart disease risk but also metabolic syndrome. This will be very helpful in reducing the risk of heart disease and diabetes in over 55 million people.

The VAP cholesterol test is so effective that it has been named as one of the ten ways to live longer by Forbes.com. It was also among the five tests worth paying for according to the Wall Street Journal.

What The VAP Test Does

The VAP test will measure all the same things that the lipid panel does but it then takes the cholesterol and measures all of the known subclasses. You already know that cholesterol has LDL and HDL subclasses. But there are more besides that.

Apolipoprotein B, or apoB, is one of those. This has been shown to be a better predictor of the risk of heart disease than the LDL cholesterol.

The VAP test will also measure the LDL directly. The routine lipid panel becomes inaccurate in the LDL calculation if the triglyceride levels are over 200 mg/dl.

In addition to this, the VAP test can identify secondary and emerging heart disease risk factors. These are factors such as the size of lipoproteins and the presence of something called a lipid triad, which is present in metabolic syndrome. The lipid triad is having small LDL, low HDL and high triglycerides.

You can click here to see what the results of the VAP test would look like.

Getting A VAP Test

Another difference with the VAP test is that you don’t have to fast before the test. You can have the VAP test done by asking your doctor to order it. Your doctor can refer you to an area lab that does the test. The test requires a small blood sample.

If your doctor has not heard of the VAP test, you can contact the Atherotech company directly through this contact form.

The VAP test is also paid for by most insurances and by Medicare and Medicaid. That is great news!

Source: http://www.findpulse.com/the-vap-cholesterol-test/