Doctors still unsure about Trump’s heart health after ‘weird’ memo
The White House shared additional details about President Donald Trump’s cardiovascular health on Monday in the form of a letter from his personal physician. He only underwent advanced imaging for preventive purposes, the letter emphasized, and Trump’s results were “perfectly normal.”
If this update was meant to end the speculation that there be some sort of problem with Trump’s heart or cardiovascular system, then it seems to have failed; multiple physicians have already stepped forward with follow-up questions related to the president’s health.
Ron Blankstein, MD, associate director of the cardiovascular imaging program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told The New York Times that some of the letter’s wording stood out to him. For example, the letter says there is “no evidence of arterial narrowing limiting blood flow,” which makes it likely that Trump underwent a cardiac stress test to rule out suspected cardiovascular disease. However, it has not been specific stated that Trump underwent a stress test.
In the same Times piece, Jeffrey A. Linder, MD, MPH, chief of general internal medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said Trump would have likely only undergone this level of advanced imaging if his care team had specific concerns.
Meanwhile, cardiologist Jonathan Reiner, MD, a professor at George Washington University who regularly speaks to CNN about popular healthcare topics, told the channel that the entire letter had a “weird, defensive, evasive tone to it.” For example, he pointed to the fact that the letter said Trump underwent “advanced imaging” instead of naming a specific modality.
“What specific advanced imaging did the president have?” he asked. “Was it an MRI, as the president said? Was it a CT? Did he have both? Why not just spell it out? It’s as if a patient came in for a chest X-ray and I only told people the patient underwent ‘simple radiologic imaging.’”
Trump turned 79 years old back in June and was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency in July.
Michael has more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.