Collin County Living Well Magazine Fall 2014 | Page 15

Calcium: Scoring a Powerful Tool
to Help Head Off Heart Disease
Courtesy Medical Center of Plano

H

eart disease is the nation’s leading killer,
causing more deaths than all types of cancer
combined. Each year, more than one million
Americans suffer heart attacks. More than half of those
who suffer their first heart attack this year will have had
no prior symptoms.
A special X-ray of the heart called a computed tomography (CT) scan may be useful for purposes of prevention and early detection of disease. Such scans provide
revealing images of the coronary arteries––the vessels
that bring oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle itself.
After the images are captured, they submit to “calcium scoring.” This means they are studied for evidence
of calcium deposits that can cause narrowing of the coronary arteries, and an increased risk of a heart attack.
The scan is painless, noninvasive, and takes only minutes to perform. Yet, by allowing a physician to assess
how calcified the coronary arteries have become, it provides a direct measurement of atherosclerosis––the process popularly referred to as “hardening of the arteries.”
From the scan, therefore, it i