A heart scan
is one of the easiest and fastest health
tests available. All you do is hold your
breath for 30 seconds and you’re done.
It's about as simple as any test can get.
No poking, prodding or pushing, no IV's,
no pre-medication, no preparation. Most
people are surprised by how easy it is.
A heart scan is 30 to 40 cross-sectional
images (varying depending on your height)
of the heart
from top to bottom, all obtained in the
few seconds you hold your breath. Holding
your breath eliminates motion of the heart
due to expansion of the adjacent lungs.
Within each of the 30 or so images, a part
of your three coronary arteries can be easily
seen. Because each part overlaps with those
above and below it, the scan provides, in
effect, a three-dimensional survey of the
chest contents. Each scan is reviewed and
a computer applies specific criteria to
help decide whether a selected area within
your coronary arteries is truly coronary
plaque. The area (in square millimeters)
is multiplied by the density of the plaque,
and this yields a score for this specific
plaque. All plaques in every image slice
are scored and all the scores added up.
This yields a total score, the one reported
to you.
Most doctors recommend that men over 40
and women over 50 be scanned. Women are
advised to get scans later than men because
the development of plaque lags behind men
approximately 10 years. Beyond age, there
are no useful criteria to decide who should
and who shouldn't be scanned.
Cholesterol values and conventional risk
factors cannot be reliably used to decide
whether or not to have a scan. Therefore
age is used as a guide.
If there is some high-risk measure in your
life such as a history of heart
disease, diabetes, high cholesterol,
or smoking, you might consider having your
scan 5 years earlier.
The higher your score, the worse it is.
Certainly, the higher your score, the more
plaque you have in your coronary arteries,
the greater your heart attack risk.
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