Medical tests to detect blood clots, aneurysms, kidney stones, cancer and heart disease are coming to a motel near you.

But local experts say these tests are usually a waste of money and may be as likely to be harmful as to save lives.

Technicians from California-based Ultra Life Inc. will be performing ultrasound body scans Friday at the Sleep Inn, 453 Theatre Drive, Richland Township.

“Usually, they don’t go far enough,” warned Dr. Lawrence McNeish, chief of radiology at Windber Medical Center. “If you don’t do a complete study, you might miss something.”

Ultrasound tests are completely harmless and might show conditions that routine exams can miss, Ultra Life owner Warren Green said from his office in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Although he is not a physician, Green said Ultra Life’s scans are reviewed by physicians who say the tests can detect early signs of heart disease, stroke or cancer.

“A lot of things you don’t have symptoms for,” Green said, adding that doctors often do not order tests unless symptoms are present.

The company’s $45 “stroke scan” of the neck’s carotid arteries can show early signs of plaque buildup that could lead to a stroke, Green cited as an example.

“A lot of your potential for a stroke is right there in your neck,” he said. “We can pick up everything from a millimeter to total blockage.”

A doctor doing a routine exam might put a stethoscope to the artery, but that would not detect any blockage of less than about 60 percent, Green said.

While the tests are not completely without merit, McNeish said, they often raise more issues than they answer. His late father learned of a blockage in his carotid artery from an elective ultrasound, although he said a doctor would have come upon it anyway.

“They are usually very limited,” McNeish said. “There are a lot of false positives for something that has to be followed up with more extensive testing.”

Even more frightening are the false-negative results that miss deadly conditions, he said.

False negatives and other less-than-conclusive results can lead to more medical expenses and increase stress, said Dr. Jeanne Spencer of Memorial Medical Center.

“Say it shows you have a tiny blockage somewhere,” Spencer said. “It may not matter, but now you are going to worry about it. You might get extra tests, or even have surgery, increasing your risk.”

Both local doctors said the best preventive approach comes through regular, complete physical exams by primary care doctors, along with screenings and referrals recommended by them.

Doctor-prescribed tests usually are covered by medical insurance. Ultra Life’s body scans are not, Green said.

“These are for people interested in looking inside their own bodies,” he said. “They pay for it out of their own pockets.”

Mainstream health care doesn’t have all the answers, Green insisted.

“That’s why they call it practicing medicine,” Green said. “We are not robbing the primary-care system. They are not in the prevention business.”

McNeish disagrees.

“I think the medical community is interested in preventing disease,” McNeish said.

Screenings such as mammograms have become routine as the result of scientific research.

“There is valid data they are reducing the death rate among patients with breast cancer,” McNeish said.

Panels of medical experts constantly are reviewing the latest data on screenings, Spencer said.

“They look at the benefits of screenings versus the benefits of not screening – and the risks,” Spencer said. “When they see the benefits are greater than the risks, then the tests are approved (for insurance reimbursement).”

Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield spokesman Michael Weinstein echoed the local doctors’ comments.

“If that company is producing scientific evidence from clinical trials that demonstrate a benefit to the patient, we’d be interested in seeing it,” Weinstein said.





If you go

What: Body scans, by appointment on Friday. (800) 990-5721.

Where: Sleep Inn, 453 Theater Drive, Richland Township.

Price: Anywhere from $45 for a stroke scan, for example, to $500 for a full-body scan.

Value: The tests can provide early warnings to some patients, but doctors are concerned about false positives and false negatives.