Vir Clinics
10 Harley Street, London W1G 9PF, UK
0207 487 3707 or +44207 487 3707 vir@vir-clinics.com
The all-round health service for men. A member of 21st Century Clinics. Unrivalled experience and success over many years in managing all manner of disorders affecting men: erection correction, ED, stress, fitness, drugs, cancer, sexually transmitted diseases (STD) etc. Complete confidentiality. Medications from stock (Viagra, Cialis, Antibiotics, Testosterone, etc). Call or e-mail NOW for an appointment. You will not regret seeking our help, whatever the problem. Navigation: Move around by means of the links below. Larger pages have internal tags: page to page, use these links. 6806.
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MEGA HEALTH EVALUATION
For many years now, various forms of medical ‘screening’ or ‘check-up’ have been offered through employers or insurance companies, or direct to the public. What we are talking about is altogether different, which is why we use instead the phrase mega health evaluation to emphasis the much bigger scale of what we offer.
Only in this century, the 21st century, has it become possible to develop effective tests searching for the earliest signs of trouble, or even before there are any signs, so as to provide assurance to individuals as to what risks they run and what are the best tactics for themselves to preserve health. DNA genetic testing has its part to play though we do not yet include it in the mega evaluation for reasons explained below. Our evaluation runs alongside other, simpler approaches to optimizing health. It depends on you: if you want to really know about something, measure it; that’s what we do.
CONTENT: No X-rays or other electromagnetic radiations are employed in any part of the mega evaluation, so there is no radiological hazard. Ultrasound is completely harmless. X-ray studies including CT will be advised if necessary, at extra cost. About MRI, see below.
1) Medical history questionnaire. It is best to complete this before you come for examination. The questionnaire is searching and could use up twenty minutes that might be better spent talking with the doctor. Download a copy* or ask for one to be sent to you by mail. Please note that you are not obliged to answer every question. Leave out any that you prefer not to answer and indicate only where your intended response is positive. It is NOT the usual kind of tick-box thing. The completed document will be shredded after your examination unless you wish us to keep it. [*Service to be added soon to this page.]
2) Ultrasound scans of abdomen [including gall bladder, kidneys and aorta], neck [thyroid gland and carotid arteries] and sexual organs. A complete scan includes inserting a probe into the rectum [for prostate gland] but this step will be omitted if that is your preference, and the same applies to rectal examination [below].
3) Complete physical examination. Rectal examination is included but will be carried out only with your consent at the time.
4) Electrocardiogram [ECG]. We see no reason to add an exercise ECG without good cause, but if we agree to do it there will be no extra charge
5) Interview with doctor and report. You will receive advice based on all the results available at the time [which is most of them] and this will be confirmed or extended on the basis of test results received later, in a full written report. A second interview is available and there will be no extra charge if this is within normal clinic hours.
6) Urine examination, including microscopic study and culture for microorganisms.
7) Blood tests. In addition to the ordinary tests for diabetes, kidney, liver, bone, and arterial disease, we do a wide range of searching hormonal and disease-marker tests and including at least the following: High-sensitivity C-Reactive Protein test [a marker of early damage to the heart muscle], testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin [SHBG, which binds testosterone and may limit its availablity], prolactin, follicle stimulating hormone [FSH] and luteinising hormone [LH] [pituitary hormones active in both men and women], thyroid function tests [FT4 and TSH], homocysteine, thrombosis screen, immunoglobulin E and cancer markers [see below].
8) Faeces tests are included in the cost but can only be done if you bring samples with you or provide them afterwards. We will test for ‘occult blood’ [to show hidden internal bleeding, a useful test for early detection of potential cancers] as well as microscopy.
9) ‘Cancer markers’. Official opinion in Britain as in other countries is against routine screening for most early cancers, on the grounds that it creates more problems than it solves, and we agree that there can be serious anxiety arising from false positive tests or from diagnosis of cancers that cannot yet be effectively treated. Yet, on the whole, we prefer to trust the judgment of the individual who chooses to pay for knowledge about himself. At present we test blood routinely for alpha-feto protein [AFP, relating to the liver, etc], CA19-9, carcino-embryonic antigen [CEA] and prostate-specific antigen [PSA], in addition to tests on faeces.
Not included at present in the standard evaluation. Available if needed.
X-rays including CT scan, because the risk due to X-rays, though small, suggests that neither should be used without sufficient justification.
MRI scan because of cost together with safety concerns in certain cases. Arrangements will be made willingly if there is medical justification.
Screening for sexually transmitted diseases. Available at extra charge.
DNA testing. As with many other tests you can only find something that you are looking for, and even an abnormal gene may exist in so many different varieties that tests cannot be directed to the gene in general, only to specific features of it. For example, tests for the Cystic Fibrosis gene are designed to pick up the twenty or so most common abnormalities and can not respond to hundreds of other rare variants. Blanket testing is therefore not yet practical: in ten years time things may look very different. One exception already possibly worthwhile is for drug metabolism pathways, affecting decisions as to whether a particular medication will work on you personally, though here too new quirks are added all the time so that it may be best to leave testing until it becomes important to you.
Appointments, Booking Fee. Appointments can be on any day of the week, given sufficient notice, including weekends at extra charge, but all appointments require costly arrangements to be made specially for the individual client. Therefore a booking fee is charged at the time of reservation, currently £200, and is refundable on cancellation only if at least two clear days notice [72 hours] is given . The booking fee is deducted from the total bill, so you will pay only the balance on arrival. The total cost remains the same.
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