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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffHeart scans, also known as coronary calcium scans, provide pictures of your heart's arteries (coronary arteries). Doctors use heart scans to look for calcium in the coronary arteries and look for blockages. The result of this test is often called a coronary calcium score.
Heart scans may indicate if you have a higher risk of having a heart attack or other problems before you have any obvious symptoms of heart disease. Heart scans aren't for everyone, though. While some walk-in medical facilities advertise that you can walk in for a quick check of your coronary arteries, you should be cautious of these approaches. It's still unclear whether heart scans should be used widely.
Routine use of heart scans on people who don't have any symptoms of heart disease is not recommended by the American Heart Association or the American College of Cardiology.
Why it's done- Screening for coronary heart disease: Recommendation statement. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstf/uspsacad.htm. Accessed Oct. 7, 2008.
- Budoff MJ, et al. Assessment of coronary artery disease by cardiac computed tomography: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association Committee on Cardiovascular Imaging and Intervention, Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention, and Committee on Cardiac Imaging, Council on Clinical Cardiology. Circulation. 2006;114(16):1761-1791.
- Greenland P, et al. ACCF/AHA 2007 clinical expert consensus document on coronary artery calcium scoring by computed tomography in global cardiovascular risk assessment and in evaluation of patients with chest pain. Circulation. 2007;115(3):402-426.
- Coronary calcium scan. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/cscan/cscan_all.html. Accessed Oct. 7, 2008.
- Detrano R, et al. Coronary calcium as a predictor of coronary events in four racial or ethnic groups. New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;358(13):1336-1345.
- Weintraub WS, et al. Predicting cardiovascular events with coronary calcium scoring. New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;358(13):1394-1396.
- Gerber TC. Diagnostic and prognostic implications of coronary artery calcification detected by computed tomography. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.
- Yanowitz FG. Screening for coronary heart disease. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.
