CLEVELAND — Does heart disease run in your family? Do you have high cholesterol? Are you a smoker or have Type 2 diabetes? All of these things put you at higher risk for a heart attack.
By the time you finish this article, someone in America will have had one.
We know that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women. But what if you could get an easy, non-invasive test that could determine your risk over the next ten years?
It's called a calcium score test and it gives you answers, literally in black and white. It measures the amount of calcium that has accumulated in the walls of the coronary arteries.
It's a computerized tomography scan (CT scan) which is a type of imaging that uses X-ray techniques to create detailed images of the body. It’s not magnetic, like an MRI, but it does involve a low dose of radiation.
A technician places several small, sticky nodes on your chest and connects them to wires. The scan itself only takes a few minutes in a CT machine. Results are available immediately and you’ll usually hear back from your doctor within 24 hours.
Who needs this scan?
If you're 45 or older, and have one or more risk factors for heart disease, your doctor may suggest getting the test.
Risk factors include:
- High blood cholesterol
- Low HDL cholesterol (“good cholesterol”)
- High blood pressure
- Smoke cigarettes
- Type 2 diabetes
- Family history of heart disease at age 55 or younger in men and 65 or younger in women
- Chronic inflammatory condition (e.g., inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis, HIV/AIDS)
- Female conditions such as preeclampsia or early menopause (younger than 40)
- Chronic kidney disease
Testing at a younger age may be indicated in certain situations.
The drawback, it's rarely covered by insurance and out of pocket costs can range between $400-$800.
However if you live in Northeast Ohio, you may be able to get one for free. University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute offers this test at no cost. Anyone (an existing UH patient or a patient coming from an outside hospital) can have the test done at no cost if they have an order from a physician.
How does the scoring system work? It's by the numbers.
- Less than 100: mild proof of coronary artery disease (low risk)
- 100-400: moderate proof of coronary artery disease (moderate to high risk)
- 400+: strong proof of coronary artery disease (high risk)
Your physician will also take other factors into consideration like age. For example, a score of 50 in a younger patient would still be a cause for concern. If you have a high score, your doctor will likely order more tests like a cardiac catheterization to determine if one or more of the arteries to your heart is blocked. If a blockage is ultimately detected, you may need a life-saving procedure like a bypass.
At UH Cleveland Medical Center, the calcium score testing is done at the Center for Advanced Heart & Vascular Care which opened in 2019. It’s one of the first cardiovascular centers in the world to co-locate an MRI, CT, and robotically operated cardiac catheterization laboratory (“cath lab”) with surgical capabilities (hybrid OR) in the same suite.
This may not seem like a big deal to you, but most centers keep the heavy equipment in the basement and getting to it is often a journey through a maze of hallways if not different buildings. Keeping everything together is essentially one stop shopping and allows patients to schedule imaging tests and appointments in one place saving time and money.
If you think you meet the criteria for a no cost calcium score test UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, click HERE.