Heart Scan

About a Heart Scan for Calcium Scoring
We all know that eating right and exercise can help keep us healthy. But research has also shown that in many cases, leading a healthy lifestyle is no guarantee against heart disease. Heart disease is more than eating right, more than watching your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Sometimes, we’re genetically prone or have other conditions that make us more likely to develop the disease. A Heart Scan for Calcium Scoring shows what is unseen and unfelt, the presence of plaque in the coronary arteries.

At Columbia St. Mary’s, Dual Source CT technology is used to produce a Heart Scan for Calcium Scoring. The scan itself is quick, less than ten minutes. It allows physicians to clearly see early calcified plaque in the arteries. Utilized as a preventative tool, a Heart Scan for Calcium Scoring allows treatment to begin before a heart attack or heart disease symptoms even occur!

Benefits of Dual Source CT Technology for Calcium Screening

• Freeze-frame nearly any beating heart without the need for beta blockers
• Accurate without being invasive
• Decreased radiation doses
• Patient prep and test within 10 minutes
• Reliable and reproducible plaque discrimination
• Fast results
• Offers peace of mind to patients concerned about developing heart disease

Click here for more information on how calcium scoring saves lives by Dr. Melish Thompson, Cardiologist.

Who Should Consider a Heart Scan?
A heart scan is appropriate even when symptoms are not present. The most appropriate individuals are typically:

• Men 45 years and older
• Women 55 years and older
• Those suffering with hypertension, diabetes, or family history of disease
• Individuals who smoke, are overweight, or physically inactive

Is a Heart Scan for Calcium Scoring Covered by Insurance?
At this time, a Heart Scan for Calcium Scoring is not typically covered by insurance. The cost at Columbia St. Mary’s is $150. A small price to pay when compared to the peace of mind that a heart scan can provide.

How to Schedule a Heart Scan for Calcium Scoring
You can schedule a Heart Scan for Calcium Scoring for you or a loved one by calling 414-326-1800.

About the Technology
Taking better pictures of the heart for diagnostic purposes has been a long-time pursuit among cardiologists and radiologists.

The current gold standard of cardiac imaging is the angiogram, which is administered via catheter using a dye to provide image contrast. CT imaging was developed to improve medical imaging in a non-invasive manner. However, with earlier generations of CT imaging, doctors gave beta-blockers to slow the heart down so the x-ray could capture the heart without blurring the image. Beta-blockers often take up to 30 minutes to begin working and patients with asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and other breathing conditions are not able to take beta-blockers.

The 64-slice CT is faster and eliminates the need for dye. The machine's speed is an important advance. Because this technology is twice as fast, it captures images of the beating heart in seconds without the need to slow the heart with beta blockers, as with other CT scanners. This results in a faster, more accurate diagnosis for patients, reducing preparation time and making advanced CT imaging an option for more patients.

In addition, studies can be obtained with less radiation exposure than the most advanced single-source CT systems.

Dual source CT heart scanning is ideal for patients with mysterious, undiagnosed chest pain - those with no obvious signs of heart disease or blockages based on standard blood, EKG or stress testing.

While CT studies have not replaced angiograms, their use is growing and many doctors use the CT images to confirm the need for an angiogram. The 64-slice CT is also:

• a less invasive alternative to cardiac catheterization for those with inconclusive cardiac stress test results
• beneficial for obese patients who are difficult to image with less powerful CT scanners
• helpful for people at very high risk for heart disease based on family history, smoking, diabetes or other risk factors.