These 6 items must be done in the year-end physical examination

1. Family history of vascular disease - carotid artery ultrasound

Vascular disease has a certain degree of familial inheritance. If your family has hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, then you should start doing carotid artery ultrasound earlier than ordinary people.

Color Doppler ultrasound of the carotid artery is the earliest window to determine vascular sclerosis, and changes in the carotid artery appear earlier than those in the heart. When there is an abnormality, the plaque, size, hard plaque or soft plaque will generally be written. You can rest assured if you see hard plaques, as they will stick tightly to the blood vessel wall. Soft plaques are highly mobile and may fall off if you turn your head, and then form a blood clot to block the blood vessel.

If you have a problem: If you are already at risk for vascular disease, be sure to improve your lifestyle. Eat less meat and more foods that can soften blood vessels, such as walnuts, black fungus, celery, eggplant, and corn.

2. Smoking - Get a lung CT scan

Smoking is the number one risk factor for lung cancer. Among patients who died of lung cancer, 87% were caused by smoking (including secondhand smoke). The lung cancer mortality rate among smokers is 8 to 20 times that of non-smokers.

If you smoke a lot, have been smoking for a long time, and have a history of lung disease, you are at high risk of lung cancer and it is best to have a lung examination once a year. The gold standard for lung examination is CT scan. Compared with previous chest X-rays and lung X-rays, CT scans can detect lung cancer earlier and more accurately. In 2013, the American Cancer Society (ACS) issued guidelines supporting the use of low-dose CT scans for lung cancer screening in high-risk groups. This examination can detect more early lung cancers and reduce lung cancer mortality by 20%.

If you have a problem: quit smoking, 50% of smokers are likely to develop cancer. It's never too late, quitting smoking at any age can increase your life expectancy, protect your health, and keep you away from cancer or other related diseases.

3. Lack of exercise and love to drink beverages - do a dual-energy X-ray bone examination

Many people drink beverages after drinking water. Most beverages contain phosphates, which will seriously hinder the absorption of calcium and promote the loss of calcium. Coke is a typical example. In addition, exercise can bring stress signals to the body, which bones need to absorb calcium and regulate bone hardness and elasticity. If you don't like exercise and drink beverages all day, you must measure your bone density.

Dual-energy X-ray technology is a classic technology for bone density measurement and is known as the international "gold standard" for diagnosing osteoporosis. Other instruments measure the bone density of the surrounding bones of the hands, feet, etc. and can only be used as screening detectors. It can measure the bone density of axial bones such as the spine, pelvis, and hip joints, and can be directly used as a diagnostic standard for clinical use.

If you have a problem: If you have osteoporosis, it is best to increase exercise while following your doctor's advice. For example, weight-bearing exercise is beneficial to bones of people of different ages. For adults, exercise is the main way to preserve bones. Climbing stairs or doing aerobics twice a week can enhance the bones' ability to withstand load and muscle stretching, which can effectively improve the effect of calcium supplementation and prevent osteoporosis.

4. Overweight by 30% - Do a cardiac spiral CT scan

Boston medical researchers in the United States found that if your weight is 20% overweight, your risk of heart disease will increase by 80%. Obesity can cause high blood pressure, increased cholesterol levels in the blood, and diabetes, which are important factors leading to heart disease. If you have gained a lot of weight this year, don't forget to get a CT scan of your heart.

Spiral CT is currently the most advanced chest scanner. It has great advantages in checking whether there is stenosis in the coronary arteries, quantifying and qualitatively analyzing plaques, evaluating the effects of heart bypass or stent surgery, and analyzing cardiac function. Based on the CT data, a computer can also be used to reconstruct a three-dimensional X-ray of the heart, which helps doctors observe lesions in various parts of the heart in three dimensions.

Patients at low risk of heart disease can use it as a routine screening test.

If there is a problem: It is best to reduce the amount of food you eat, and control each meal to no more than 70% full. The gastrointestinal tract has enough power to chop, digest, absorb and excrete food. The body is in a virtuous cycle and the burden on the heart will be reduced.

5. Eating out frequently - undergoing a gastrointestinal endoscopy

The stomach is a relatively fragile organ in the human body. Almost all stomach diseases, especially gastric ulcer and gastric cancer, are the most common diseases in humans. If you eat out frequently and are under a lot of mental stress, you are more likely to have stomach problems.

If this is the case for you, you can first have your blood drawn for a gastrin G17 test. This indicator can determine the gastric secretion function, reflect the level of gastric acid, and can more comprehensively judge the health of the gastric mucosa. Of course, you can also do a gastroenteroscopy directly, which is the clinical gold standard for diagnosing gastrointestinal diseases. It is non-destructive, has no blind spots, and has high clarity during the examination. It is currently the most reliable and intuitive method for examining gastrointestinal diseases. It can diagnose various gastrointestinal diseases at an early stage, especially esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, and intestinal cancer.

If there is a problem: While treating the disease, you must pay attention to a light diet and avoid eating too spicy, too hard, or too cold food. And, most importantly, eat three meals regularly.

6. Too many social activities - get a liver ultrasound

After get off work and on the weekend, men like to call their friends over, go out for a couple of drinks, and drink heavily. Although you enjoy the delicious food, your liver is severely damaged by the alcohol and you will suffer a lot. Drinking more than 60 grams of alcohol a day is equivalent to making your liver into raw material for making wine. If you drink alcohol frequently, you must check your liver. In addition to doing a blood test for liver function, you should also do an ultrasound examination.

Ultrasound is very sensitive to fatty liver. In non-fibrotic liver, the sensitivity of ultrasound diagnosis of fatty liver is 100%. Moreover, B-ultrasound examination can not only detect liver cancer at an early stage, but also indicate the possibility of cirrhosis and liver space-occupying lesions.

If there is a problem: The most effective way to protect the liver is to get vaccinated against hepatitis A and B. After vaccination, blood should be drawn every year to monitor antibody levels. When the vaccine's immune protection period ends, continue to get vaccinated. This will protect the liver to the greatest extent.

In addition, the seven most famous "liver-loving foods" are recommended: sweet potatoes, corn, kelp, apples, milk, onions, and winter melon. These foods are most effective in preventing fat accumulation in the body.