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The cardiac vascular disease is the leading cause of death across the globe, which accounts for around 18 million deaths annually. This is a report from World Health Organization. Conditions like diabetic neuropathy, peripheral arterial diseases, and autonomic dysfunction develop much earlier silently before the real clinical symptoms appear. Traditionally, there were a lot of vascular testing methods which have been helping the customers in a large way. The form of a diagnosis for many, many years, they often involve many devices, multiple appointments, labs specialized for each devices, and time taken is so high. But the modern systems like TM Flow diagnostics are transforming the whole way the vascular diagnostics is conducted in the clinic. The vascular diagnostics and ABI screening helps the physician to measure the cardiovascular parameters, multiple cardiovascular parameters in a few minutes within the clinic.
Modern healthcare is adopting TFM flow because of rapid, integrated, and non-invasive diagnostic technologies. This is why TFM flow is most preferred over other testing methods.
Understanding the world traditional vascular testing:
Doppler Ultrasound:
If a patient comes to a clinic, the traditional vascular diagnostics will have different independent tests, which is performed in different vascular labs. The most common tests include Doppler ultrasound. The Doppler ultrasound measures the arterial blood flow and blood flow into the veins, which helps in detecting abnormalities or blockages.
The advantages of Doppler ultrasound is they are highly accurate and the imaging of the blood vessels are highly detailed.
The limitations of Doppler ultrasound is it requires trained and experienced technicians and it takes more time to complete. A separate and specialized vascular laboratory has to be set up.
Ankle-Brachial Index Test:
Most commonly called as ABI test, which compares blood pressure in the ankle and with the blood pressure in the arm to identify if there is any peripheral arterial disease, arterial disease. ABI formula is Ankle Systolic Pressure divided by Brachial Systolic Pressure. An abnormal ABI score indicates that there is an arterial blockage which causes a reduced blood flow. There have been many studies that have demonstrated that a abnormal ABI value is always associated with cardiovascular mortality risk and atherosclerosis.
The interpretation of ABI values are, if the ABI value is between 1 to 1.0, it is a normal interpretation. If it is 0.91 to 0.99, then it is borderline risk. If it is less than 0.9, then the interpretation is peripheral artery disease. If it is more than 1.4, the arteries are non-compressible.
Autonomic Function Test:
The autonomic nervous system, ANS, will be evaluated using autonomic testing. The autonomic nervous system regulates vital functions like blood pressure, heart rate, and vascular tone. The common tests for autonomic evaluation are tilt table testing, analysis of heart rate variability, deep breathing test, and Valsalva maneuver. We can diagnose conditions like orthostatic hypotension, diabetic neuropathy, and cardiac autonomic neuropathy using these tests. A neurological lab is needed to conduct these tests, and a longer time is needed for the evaluation.
Limitations of old traditional vascular diagnostics process:
The old traditional methods are really valuable and we can able to get accurate information from it, but they have many challenges when it comes to operational efficiency.
Fragmented testing:
The old diagnostics method requires multiple devices and multiple appointments, which includes ABI testing devices, Doppler ultrasound machines and neurology lab equipment. So you have to conduct three tests in three different places and at three different times, which increases the delay in diagnosis and the operational cost will increase.
Time:
The patient has been referred for a vascular workup. They include patient’s referral, scheduling a diagnostic test, multiple visits to multiple specialists, different and separate results interpretation. But the modern systems can finish the multi-screening in just under 10 minutes’ time. So it conserves time, and the workflow will be easier.
Limitations of screening:
Many old and traditional vascular testing procedures will be advised only after symptoms appear, which means you cannot detect the diseases earlier. There has been a lot of research conducted on vascular and autonomic dysfunction, which develops much before clinical symptoms. Whenever a patient is having diabetes and metabolic syndrome, they are at high risk category. So they need to undergo preventive screening to identify the dysfunctions much earlier.
TMFlow is a modern and advanced vascular and autonomic screening system which is designed to provide risk assessment on cardio metabolic functions in a single setting office test. They are not like the traditional diagnostic tools and TMFlow makes sure all the physiological measurements are combined into a single non-invasive procedure.
The evaluations are ankle brachial test for PAD, Sudomotor function for small fiber neuropathy, HRV which is known as heart rate variability for autonomic nervous system health, and endothelial and vascular functions. There are a lot of sensors, cuffs and electrodes placed on the patient’s body and the measurements are collected at the same time. The whole procedure can be concluded in 7 to 12 minutes which makes the ideal choice for diagnostic centers and primary care clinics.
How TM Flow works?
As we know, three diagnostic technologies are combined into one platform.
The first one is ABI measurement, which is also known as TBL-ABI, which measures the blood pressure in arms and ankles, and a simple formula is used to identify peripheral artery disease.
Sudomotor testing, known as SWEATC, which evaluates the functioning of sweat gland through galvanic skin response, which reflects the small nerve fiber function. This can help in identifying early diabetic neuropathy.
Photo Plethysmography (PPG) and HRV analysis. PPG and HRV evaluates the variability in heart rate, endothelial functions and the balance of autonomic nervous system. If we have all these parameters, we can have a complete overview of vascular and autonomic health.
Features wise difference:
The differences between traditional and TMFlow can be compared by feature-wise. The traditional vascular testing has multiple separate tests, but TMFlow has only one test, which is an integrated multi-system. Time required for total screening is 30 to 90 minutes for old vascular testing, but TMFlow has 7 to 12 minutes. Multiple devices are equipped to get whole vascular testing process, and TMFlow is just one single system. You have to set up a vascular lab which has vascular testing specializations, and it is expensive. Whereas TMFlow has in-clinic screening capabilities. Parameters are usually one parameter per system in the traditional method, but TMFlow will have three important parameters like vascular, neuropathy, and autonomic. Patients will have terrible experiences because of multiple visits and appointments, but TMFlow just need to have a single appointment.
Why modern clinics are switching to TMFlow?
TMFlow has been adopted by healthcare systems in a grand way and the shift is because of preventive and data-driven medicine is becoming very popular.
Quick diagnosis:
As we all know, TMFlow provides comprehensive results within minutes so that the physicians can make immediate decisions. Earlier detection, the PAD, diabetic neuropathy and autonomic dysfunctions can be detected much earlier with TMFlow. If you find it earlier, the physicians can intervene much before the complications to occur.
Accuracy of the diagnosis:
All three parameters are measured at the same time using TM flow, and the physicians can differentiate what are the conditions which often copies each other. For instance, vascular disease will cause leg pain, but at the same time, neuropathy will also have the same symptoms. When you have three parameters running parallelly, the clinicians can identify which is the one which causes the real pain and identify the root causes. So the accuracy is managed.
Patient experience:
The patient’s experience, lesser waiting time, and easier workflow. They don’t need to have long appointments, many machines, and multiple hospital visits. TM flow provides you a non-invasive screening procedure, which make use of patient’s single visit.
The operational efficiency in clinics:
TM flow not only helps the patient, but also the healthcare providers are hugely benefited by this. The diagnostic workflow complexity is reduced, and many patients can be screened per day. Apart from this, the diagnostic testing is reimbursable during insurance process. There are applicable CPT codes, which can reimburse $200 to $300 per test session.
The global healthcare industry has changed its strategy towards early disease detection and preventive diagnosis. TMFlow is a new generation technology with integrated cardio-metabolic screening capabilities which can detect diseases much earlier and much easier than the traditional methods, and the outcome is excellent. By combining ABI, autonomic evaluation, and vascular diagnostics, TMFlow allows healthcare providers to manage the risks proactively rather than being reactive, when the disease hits.
Conclusion:
Old traditional vascular testing methods is also relevant to diagnose cardiovascular diseases, but they are fragmented and take longer times, and they have to jump between labs to labs. TMFlow is the most modern approach for integrating all these tests into a simple process. When the focus is on preventive healthcare and efficient patient outcomes, TMFlow is the much shorter diagnostic tool. TMFlow is the feature of vascular diagnostics.
