Calcium Score

Coronary heart disease has been established to be on top of the list of "killers" in both women and men in the US. Every year, as many as one hundred fifty thousand people have deadly heart attacks as the original and lone symptom. Before, early warning signs that a heart attack may be impending were identified with blood cholesterol. Then, along came another warning in the form of C - reactive protein. Now, doctors have gotten a better look at a heart's inside arteries, and have taken new interest in what they have always known as present in troubled vessels: calcium.

Today, clinics, hospitals, and even gyms have hyped easy and fast scans to measure ones calcium amount in the coronary arteries in just a matter of minutes. Measuring the amount of calcium gives out a calcium score, which is the sum of the amount of calcified plaque in the coronary arteries. Although calcium scores can be useful, doctors concern that the use of calcium scores for predicting who is at heart disease risk is not always uncomplicated.

A calcium score that is "zero" meaning no calcium in coronaries is the ‘normal' score. Following a coronary artery scan, through the use of a computerized highly accurate scoring technique, the quantity of calcification is then calculated. After which, the sum score is contrasted against findings in research of two-hundred-thousand patients in various age groups.

The physician evaluates and interprets all calcium scores, tests, and results, to classify the person from intermediate, low, or high danger of heart disease, and creates advices on follow-up checkup care to ones physician. A positive examination means that the coronary calcification denotes at least a little coronary disease. The quantity of calcium score is connected to the disease's amount. A negative result means that one may possibly not have any coronary disease and the danger of heart disease is very low.

It does not mean however, that high calcium scores are headed for heart attack. For one, as people age, they tend to put up more plaque, hence more fat and calcium in the arteries. Therefore, higher calcium amounts in young individuals are more considerable indicators of possible problems that they may be in elderly stage.

It is also a fact, that even two persons of the same age having the same calcium scores don't automatically mean that they have the same risk for heart disease. Calcium scores are good assisting tools in predicting heart problems, but one should remember that it is not the "determining" factor for heart disease.