What you learn here can provide you with the first step in ensuring that you don’t become another statistic in the battle against heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, killing more Americans than all cancers combined. This year alone more than one million Americans will experience some kind of acute cardiac event, and half of those will die as a result. Even those who are lucky enough to survive a heart attack frequently experience compromised health and vitality.

CT Imaging – the foundation. Computed Tomography has evolved into one of the most important tools used in the early detection of heart disease. CTs are performed using special x-ray equipment that creates many thin images, or “slices,” of the body. After the images are created, the CT scanner uses powerful computers to join all these slices together into cross-sectional views of the body.

CTCS – a score that matters. For many years, CT has been used to perform a test called the CT Calcium Score, or CTCS. It’s a quick, painless, non-invasive way to identify the location and extent of calcified plaque in the arteries that supply blood to the heart. Over time, a buildup of calcified or “hard” plaque can occur, thus narrowing the arteries in the heart. This narrowing can reduce or block blood flow to the heart, placing you at risk for a heart attack. CTCS is used to screen patients with no symptoms for early signs of heart disease. The test is inexpensive, no special preparation is required, and it typically takes less than five minutes to perform. Because CTCS is a screening test, however, it is usually not covered by insurance.   

CCTA – a diagnostic breakthrough. For patients who are known to be at higher risk of heart disease, or those with symptoms, a more comprehensive CT examination is performed.  Coronary Computed Tomographic Angiography, or CCTA, is one of the most dramatic breakthroughs in coronary artery disease detection in decades. An advanced, 64-slice CT scanner is used to produce amazing three-dimensional, high-resolution images of the coronary arteries. 

Coronary CTA is similar to the CT calcium score, but in addition to identifying calcified “hard” plaque, it can also visualize the walls of the coronary arteries in great detail and detect the location and severity of fatty “soft” plaque buildup there. This soft plaque within the artery wall, also known as “vulnerable plaque,” can leak into the bloodstream without warning and cause a heart attack by causing the blood to collect or clot at the site of the rupture.