Coronary Calcium Scan - The Heart Test You May Need
Meet the coronary
calcium scan, an accurate test that can help determine your future risk of
heart attack or cardiovascular disease. Johns Hopkins experts explain why this
test may be best for you.
How's your coronary
artery calcium? What's that, you ask? Like the more familiar tests used to
assess your risk of future heart problems—cholesterol, blood pressure and blood
sugar tests, for example—coronary artery calcium (CAC) testing helps reveal your
risk of heart disease, often before other warning signs appear.
Also known as a calcium score, it's
one of the newer—and more accurate—assessment tools being used. "A
coronary calcium scan isn't for everyone, but it's the finest way for those who
are uncertain about their heart disease risk to make better decisions about
treatment and medications," says Michael Blaha, M.D., M.P.H., director of clinical research
at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at Johns Hopkins.
What does a coronary calcium scan do?
The scan provides images of your
coronary arteries that show existing calcium deposits.
Called calcifications, these deposits are an early sign of coronary artery
disease.
How does the coronary calcium scan
work?
Pictures of your heart are taken
while you lie in a scanner for about 10 minutes. This simple and painless
procedure is called a computed tomography (CT) scan. A score of zero has been
shown to indicate that you have a very low risk of having a heart attack within
the next seven years.
How is a coronary calcium scan used?
For someone who has several risk factors for heart disease, the test can
help determine how aggressive treatment should be, whether different types of
medications should be started, or whether a person is at very low risk for
heart events. "Unlike risk factors, which can only tell you probabilities,
this information is individualized, more concrete and actionable," Blaha
says.
Why doesn't everyone get a coronary
calcium scan?
Because this test
is relatively new, it's not part of standard guidelines for heart
screenings—and not all insurance plans cover it. But it's apt to be used more
in the future, as several studies comparing it with other tests have shown its
effectiveness in determining the risk of cardiac events. For now, ask your
doctor.
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