Imaging & Clinical PET Centers

 

Cardiac Scan

Heart Scan (Coronary Calcification Scoring)
Coronary Artery Calcification Scoring (CACS) is a revolutionary breakthrough in preventative health care, which allows physicians to measure a person's potential for heart disease. When combined with information on family history and cholesterol levels, CACS can provide critical information on the potential for heart disease in its earliest stages, meaning physicians no longer have to wait for symptoms to appear in order to begin treating a patient via lifestyle modifications and medication therapies.

 

This service is available at the following locations:

Imaging Center
of Southern Illinois

 


Using high-speed computed tomography (CT) to scan the heart, CACS identifies patients at risk for future cardiac events by measuring calcium deposits along artery walls and reporting the aggregate calcium burden as a calcium, or Agatson, score. The level of calcium reflected in the Agatson score correlates to the amount of atherosclerotic plaque in the artery, which correlates to the patient's risk for developing symptomatic coronary artery disease. The incidence and amount of coronary calcification increases with age and reflects increasing atherosclerotic burden.

In asymptomatic patients, CACS can be used to:

  • Rule out coronary ischemia in patients with atypical chest pain
  • Interpret abnormal treadmill tests in symptomatic individuals
  • Help decide whether to use cholesterol lowering therapies in patients with borderline cholesterol levels
  • Pre-operatively assess high-risk patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery
  • Follow-up and assess response to treatment

The atherosclerotic process can be slowed, stabilized and actually reversed when it is identified early in patients and treated appropriately. The CACS procedure is non-invasive, fast, and painless.

Screenings should begin at age 35 for asymptomatic patients with a strong family history of coronary disease. For those patients with no family history, it’s often customary to begin screenings between the ages of 40 and 45.

Note: For symptomatic patients, some studies have shown that the presence of calcium does not specifically correspond to the presence of flow-limiting stenosis.