Assessing the health of your heart is just minutes away

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (WTNH) -- What could take a number of visits to different doctors can now be evaluated all at one stop, benefiting both patient and doctor.

High tech is easing the way doctors evaluate patients like Justin Kulvinskas.

Doctors like Internist Dr. Wayne Franco in Middletown.

"Right now we're just measuring his EKG while he's resting," said Dr. Franco.

While Kulvinskas sits, stands and breathes deeply, he is connected to the autonomic nervous system or ANS instrument, assessing the way his heart is functioning.

Dr. Franco says, "it's going to show his arteries stiffness and his heart power."

Now Dr. Franco can do a more thorough job.

"It tells me whether I need to order tests like echocardiogram, ultra monitors, stress tests from a cardiologist," Dr. Franco said.

It's a far cry from his days of just relying on his stethoscope.
 
However, for patients, the roughly 12 minute testing can be intimidating.

Kulvinskas says, "sometimes you go in for these tests and you find surprises and stuff, so just knowing how thorough the test was and what it was going to show me, I was just concerned."

Meanwhile, Sebastian Branciforte is getting his results from Dr. Franco.

"The machine," says Dr. Franco, "shows your arteries are 64 years old."

Good news, considering he's 73 years old.   

Branciforte vows, "I keep doing what I'm doing, I stay fairly active."

Similar results for Kulvinskas who was told his heart is in good shape.   

"To be able to come to a workplace and get such thorough information is really helpful."

An added plus, Dr. Franco developed a non-invasive way to measure a patient's carbon dioxide level using the computerized technology.

He says, "in the hospital you have to have a stick in the artery, very painful, and it can cause infection and bleeding."

Instead, the results of a blood test and oxygen level are loaded in and calculated by the computer.  
 
Dr. Franco says it will be helpful to monitor conditions such as diabetes, COPD, sleep apnea.  
 
He says the heart assessment is extremely accurate and has led to patients changing lifestyle habits.

One has quit smoking and others are now taking aspirin every day.