Articles
Your Health Alert
Week 10
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
Daily Camera, Boulder, CO
Heart Scans and Calcium Scores.
When Dr. Blanchet first opened Front Range Preventive Imaging, he met with skepticism from physicians regarding the value of heart scans and calcium imaging. Today, that has changed. The scientific data and clinical results supporting the ability of coronary calcium to predict heart attack risk is impressive. There may still be a few physicians, who have not opened a journal in the last 5 years, who are not aware of the value of heart scans; however they are the exception, not the rule.
I strongly recommend the EBT type heart scan, currently available only at Front Range Preventive Imaging here in Boulder, and at Colorado Heart in Denver. There are many other heart imaging sites around which use a helical scanner, and all can provide a calcium score. Your initial calcium score is very important to assess your coronary risk. What is, perhaps even more important, is your second calcium score. This second score tells you the effectiveness of your current treatment.
Because of the superior speed at which the EBT takes pictures, there is greater precision and clarity than with other scanning methods. This is crucially important when it comes to scan to scan comparisons. Only the EBT Heart Scan is precise enough to be accurate in comparing your first heart scan with your second. This is the best way to monitor your progress and treatment program.
EBT Calcium Score. With your EBT scan, you will receive a detailed report and actual pictures of your heart, if there is any calcium found. You will receive your calcium score. This score can range from 0, (no plaque detected), to well into the hundreds, or thousands. You will also receive a percentage score which is age and gender matched, comparing your coronary risk with that of your peers.
If you are interested in getting an EBT Heart Scan, or would like more information on EBT Heart Scans, please call Front Range at 303-443-7226. Getting a heart scan is easy. It takes longer to fill out the paperwork than it does to get the scan.
If you have risk factors, and especially if your calcium score is anything but zero, you need a full preventive cardiovascular evaluation using advanced tests (see columns from weeks 5 and 7 on my website www.heartcare1.com/articles).
Please note that next week’s column will be in Section A of the daily camera, and we’ll talk about other tests that we use.
Joe Turnbow, M.D.
Copyright 2008, Heart Attack Prevention Strategies P.C. All rights reserved.