Is it possible for a column to save lives?

I’m willing to try, after attending a press conference at Cabrini Medical Center about a pilot program, sponsored by the center and the Congress of Racial Equality, to target latent cardiovascular disease in African-Americans. The program itself was indicative of the continuing excellence of CORE’s commitment to community concerns, and it was exhilarating to learn of a new diagnostic technology that not only is non-invasive but also might be more accurate than the riskier invasive angiogram.

CORE press conferences are always interesting, because the organization’s chairman, Roy Innis, seeks answers to long-neglected problems among African-Americans. There are community leaders and then there are community blowhards masquerading as leaders. The latter are prone to convening press conferences to herald pronouncements about everything they believe is wrong, but they rarely offer any concrete solutions. They are addicted to cameras, banks of microphones, and lecturns.

Bona fide leaders, on the other hand, issue press releases detailing new programs that result from the hard work they’ve been doing on behalf of their community. Roy Innis is such a leader, and responding to a press release from the Congress of Racial Equality may actually lengthen my own life.

The high rate of heart disease in his community is scarcely the only big problem Mr. Innis has tackled. For instance, he asks why there should still be famine and starvation in Africa when bio-technical advances in agriculture can make those twin plagues a distant memory? CORE teamed up with Monsanto Chemical to introduce the new technology to African farmers, and in January CORE held an information conference at the United Nations at which academics, scientists, farmers, and diplomats shared opinions on the subject.

Now, with Cabrini, CORE will recruit 100 subjects who will receive a free diagnostic screening utilizing the Cardiac CT machine. Cabrini’s chief cardiologist, Michael Poon, pioneered the phenomenal heart-scan technology, and the hospital founded by Mother Cabrini, the first American saint, is the only New York facility with so highly skilled a diagnostic team. (The phone number the facility can be reached at is: 212-995-6000.)

How many times have we learned of a young athlete who suddenly dies after a game or a race even though there was no indication of a heart condition?

What about the person who drops dead while shoveling snow, even after being given a clean bill of health from a stress test?

As I listened to Dr. Poon explain technical details of the cardiac CT, I felt like many in the audience, that this was a dream come true for many reluctant patients like me. The test is not invasive, and requires only an IV. It takes – hold on to your hat – only 30 seconds for a complete scan of the body’s vascular system.

The drawback is that the center is still awaiting the coding from Medicare and Medicaid and insurance companies will not approve payment unless certain conditions apply. If, however, you have a couple of grand burning a hole in your pocket, it would be worth spending for the peace of mind a clear test would bring.

We hear so much about fatalities and strokes caused by aneurysms, and people my age privately wonder if such a weakness exists somewhere in our aging bodies.

What is unique about this technology is that it can pick up potential damage to the cell wall that might be missed by an angiogram because the lumen, or opening, of the artery appears to be of normal size. Dr. Poon explained that, while the lumen does not narrow until the later stage of heart disease, the wall of the artery may be bulging outward, and the cardiac CT can diagnose that potentially deadly condition.

Candidates for the Cabrini/CORE pilot program are being chosen from those who are considered low-risk according to current guidelines , which involve such factors as cholesterol levels, weight, and hypertension. If patients’ cardiac disease can be pinpointed and treated before the arteries sustain damage, then the high incidence of heart disease in the African-American community might be reduced. Applicants should contact CORE at 212-588-4000 for further information.

Last September I spent the night in the hospital because of chest pains. A stress test and two echocardiograms ruled out a heart condition, but my symptoms linger. In the next few weeks I will be undergoing a scan with the new technology. Normally I would be terrified, but even I can handle a 30-second test.

Stay tuned.