Heart Scan & Calcium Scoring
The heart scan or calcium scoring examination can be performed in approximately 15 seconds. When receiving a heart scan, the radiation dose is as low as possible-comparable to only one third of the natural radiation received from our atmosphere.
A positive coronary calcium score result from your heart scan serves as a good indicator of the risk factors for certain types of heart attack. A negative calcium score from your heart scan is a good indicator that coronary vessels are intact.
Who Should Have a Heart Scan?
You belong to a high-risk group if any of the following factors apply to you:
- You have a high cholesterol level
- You have high triglyceride values
- You smoke
- You have high blood pressure
- You have family history of heart disease
- You have diabetes
- Any of the following factors in combination with a sedentary lifestyle
If one or more of the above points apply to you, contact The Cardiac Center of Texas to find out more about heart scans and calcium scores and CT angiography for early diagnosis of heart disease.
What Does My Calcium Score Mean?
Doctors use calcium scores, along with conventional risk factors, to estimate your risk of heart disease. Here is an example based on a statistical model developed by Dr. Mark Pletcher at the University of California, San Francisco:Consider a 60 year-old woman who doesn’t smoke and doesn’t have diabetes:
The factor that she has high blood pressure and high cholesterol puts her risk of suffering a heart attack or other cardiac event over the next 10 years at | If her calcium score is zero, her risk falls to | If her calcium score is 1-100 | If her calcium score is 101-400 her risk jumps to | If her calcium score is over 400 her risk jumps to |
15% | 6-9% | 13- 15% | 25-31% | 34-51% |
How Do I Schedule a Scan?
Schedule a Heart Scan at the Cardiac Center of Texas Today! Call 972-529-6939 to schedule your Heart Scan or read more about Heart Screening Tests available at CCTX in McKinney, Allen, Plano TX area.
For further information please contact Cardiac Center of Texas at 972-529-6939 or send us a question through the patient portal under the Patients tab at the top of the page. Thank you for visiting CardiacCenterOfTexas.com.
Interested in learning more about our heart screening tests? Call the Cardiac Center of Texas in McKinney (near Allen, Plano, Frisco) TX for more information on tests for the heart. Call 972-529-6939 or send us a message.
