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Results
By Mayo Clinic staffAfter your heart scan is finished, your doctor will share the results with you. If you'd like a copy of your scan, ask your doctor, since copies aren't routinely given. If your coronary calcium score is high, that may mean more aggressive treatment of your heart attack risk factors, such as medications or lifestyle changes, is needed. Your doctor may also recommend more-invasive tests, such as coronary angiography, based on your scan results.
The theory behind using heart scans is that the more calcification you have, the worse your heart disease. But even having very small amounts of calcium might indicate that you could go on to develop heart disease unless you take aggressive measures to stop it, such as eating a healthier diet, reducing your cholesterol and quitting smoking.
Also, having calcium in your coronary arteries may not necessarily mean that you have heart disease. It's possible you could have false-positive results, meaning there's an error on the scan. That means you might get unnecessary and invasive tests, such as coronary angiography, that could cause you to worry needlessly about your health.
The flip side is also true: If a heart scan shows your arteries are free of calcium, it doesn't necessarily mean you don't have heart disease. The plaques that build up in your arteries are initially soft and only become hard and calcified over time. So you can still have significant plaques clogging your arteries, and the scan won't detect them. These false-negatives can give you a clean bill of health when you actually have heart disease or are at risk of developing it.
Heart scan technology continues to improve, and scientists are learning more about the role of calcium in heart disease. In the meantime, don't overlook the traditional risk factors that can increase your chance of developing heart disease, such as smoking and high cholesterol levels. And remember that if you do have a heart scan, it's useful only if you actually follow up with your doctor and make lifestyle changes that can prevent worsening heart disease.
- 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.
