Health examinations by Executive Health are now available at Medicon Village

The number of healthcare providers at Medicon Village has increased from four to five, as Executive Health has now moved into The Spark. Its establishment of operations in Lund increases access for people in Skåne to undergo advanced health examinations in order to detect diseases, which the company has carried out more than 10,000 times since 2008.
Executive Health is a Swedish privately owned chain of now three clinics, offering the most advanced and safe screening program in Europe to detect diseases with potentially severe consequences. Executive Health is the sole provider of these kinds of privately financed early detection and preventive examinations in the Nordics, which is why many Norwegians and Skåne residents are among the clients at the first clinic located in Blasieholmen, Stockholm.
Meeting increasing demand for early detection
With the clinic at Medicon Village, Executive Health expects to increase its client base in both southern Sweden and Denmark, meeting an increasing demand for alternatives to the sometimes overstretched public healthcare system.
The tech-driven health market is rapidly expanding as patient focus shifts from the traditional reactive healthcare model of examining symptoms and treating disease to one where regular health scans could be a proactive tool to drive more positive health outcomes through early detection of issues and the application of data-driven preventive measures.
The Executive Health offering is a premium one, with high-quality body scans covering a range of cardiological measurements, including ECG, heart rate, murmur sound, oxygen saturation, arterial stiffness, pulse width, and breathing, among others and MRI’s for tumor screening.
All examinations are undertaken in one session shortly after booking, with potential follow-ups if necessary. This shortens the examination time span, which is highly appreciated by busy and/or anxious patients.
Test results are evaluated by a team of qualified specialists and communicated to the patient via a dedicated doctor who supports both at examinations and acts as a contact point from the initial meeting to potential treatment of identified symptoms.
Expanding family business
The founders of Executive Health, and still majority owners 16 years later, are Jon Jonsson and his father Ulf Lillkrona. Jon encountered the concept of advanced preventative health examination clinics while working in the US. Passionate about early-stage illness detection due to a family history of health issues, he approached his father, a medical doctor, associate professor, specialist in orthopaedics, and former Clinical Director at Danderyd Hospital, who also saw the potential.
With support from external financiers, they set up the first clinic in Stockholm, fully equipped to perform body scans using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) without dangerous radiation to create detailed cross-sectional images of the body’s internal structures.
– Executive Health is an expanding family-owned business with a clinic in Spain since 2018, and now one at Medicon Village. We’re in it for the long run, with one of our children on her way to becoming a medical doctor to hopefully follow suit as a member of our crew in a few years, says Jon’s sister Ia Wierup, who joined the company as CEO ten years ago.
Men on the move are typical clients
With 1,000 screenings undertaken each year at the Stockholm clinic. More men than women are patients, but families also use Executive Health’s Family Office scheme to secure access to healthcare 365 days a year and annual health check-ups for all family members. A typical patient profile is a 40 to 60-year-old male or female entrepreneur with private health insurance covering most of the cost of the Executive Health fee, being examined every three years for a blueprint of the current situation.
– As we started the first clinic in Stockholm and introduced our early detection service in the Nordics, we faced some criticism regarding offering a fast track to the rich and wealthy. Today, people have grown accustomed to the idea of private health providers offering services complementing public healthcare, says Jon Jonsson.
A thorough examination of vital parts
Ninety-five percent of the patients undergo the Premium Examination, while the rest opt for the Heart or Start program, adjusted for patients younger than 35 with examination parts considered unnecessary for them excluded. It is also possible to individually tailor screening programs targeting each one of the four major disease areas accounting for more than 80% of deaths: cancer, metabolic (blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc.), cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative (dementia disorders).
The premium examination starts with the patient completing a lifestyle survey three days before the actual examination. The examination day then begins with an enema as preparation for the body scan, followed by an ultrasound examination to check arteries in the neck for calcification, plaque, changes in vessel walls, and clotting, as well as the groin regarding leg circulation, and finally the heart and its valves, volume, and elasticity. The data from this part of the examination are collected from three angles to get an image of the vascular tree and thus vascular health. Eighty images are later analyzed by the biomedical analyst handling the ultrasound examination and then by cardiologists and clinical physiologists like Eva Rythén, Chief Physician at Karolinska University Hospital.
The next step is an electrocardiogram (ECG), a test that checks for problems with the electrical activity of the heart. It’s used to detect heart problems such as heart attacks, arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats), and other heart conditions. During the ECG, sensors (electrodes) are attached to the chest, arms, and legs to detect electrical signals produced by the heart each time it beats. These signals are recorded and printed on paper as a series of lines and spikes to help identify abnormalities in the heart’s rhythm and electrical activity.
Then it’s time to enter a stationary bicycle to undergo an exercise electrocardiogram to detect abnormalities in heart rhythm and blood flow that may not be apparent at rest. This helps to evaluate how well the heart responds to increased physical activity and can aid in the diagnosis of conditions such as coronary artery disease, arrhythmias, and other heart-related problems.
After some rest, it’s time for spirometry, a common diagnostic test used to assess lung function. It measures how much air one can inhale, how much one can exhale, and how quickly one can exhale. This test can help diagnose conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other lung diseases.
With this first part of the examination completed, it’s time for the medical examination by the doctor, reviewing the survey, listening to the lungs, observing the body for signs of skin cancer, and more.
Seven tubes of blood are collected for laboratory purposes to check blood, liver, kidneys, and more, before it’s time for two body scans using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to create detailed cross-sectional images of the body’s internal structures: one scanning the brain for 25 minutes and the other scanning the thorax, abdomen, prostate, lymph nodes, and aorta for another 45 minutes. As opposed to computed tomography (CT), this technique uses no radiation and is therefore harmless to the body. The images are later reviewed by two specialists.
The examination concludes after about half a day and is followed within a week by a dialogue with the dedicated doctor, who has collected reviews from the different specialists involved in evaluating the examination findings. When necessary, healthcare efforts are initiated. All documentation is forwarded to the patient in both physical and digital form.
Summing up the examination
Among the frequent examination findings that should be treated are problems related to blood pressure, blood lipids, cholesterol, diabetes, and thyroid levels. Most patients tend to enjoy having control of their health status, including heart health, blood vessels, and cancer risk, by receiving figures that can be compared between examinations, rather than being anxious about the outcome.
An important part of the Executive Health services is the easy access to counselling from a dedicated medical doctor for each patient. Besides explaining examination findings, referring to care, and following up on medication, the doctor also gives advice on lifestyle changes that might improve health, such as how to exercise, what to eat, and more. At Medicon Village, Carl Wendel is the doctor in charge of this:
– I really enjoy the medical detective work involved in meeting patients and, together with them, finding potential health challenges to be addressed in order to give them a longer and better life.
Read more at www.executive-health.com