The heart is one of the vital organs that plays a very important role in the human circulatory system. Therefore, we must always maintain and pay attention to its health. If not, there will be various heart diseases that attack.
There are many ways you can do to keep your heart healthy, from eating healthy foods to doing regular exercise. Not only that, the importance of having regular heart checks can also help prevent heart attacks. One type of examination that can be done is CT Coronary with Calcium Score or often referred to as CT Calcium Score / Calcium Score Test.
What is CT Calcium Score ?
CT Calcium Score is a test that aims to see how much calcium is contained in your coronary blood vessels. This calcium level can be an indication of whether there is a buildup of fat on the walls of blood vessels that can potentially cause narrowing or blockage of the coronary blood vessels. This means that you may be suffering from atherosclerosis (coronary heart disease), which can lead to a heart attack.
Benefits of CT Calcium Score examination for the heart
The main benefit of a CT Calcium Score examination of the heart is to see the accumulation of calcium in the blood vessels of the heart which indicates the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). In other words, a CT Calcium Score examination of the heart is useful as a screening effort and helps prevent early heart attacks even before symptoms appear.
Here are some of the benefits of a CT Calcium Score examination of the heart for monitoring heart health:
- Knowing the risk of coronary heart disease
CT Calcium Score of the heart is most appropriate when someone does not know whether they are at risk of heart disease or not. This procedure should also be done when someone has not felt symptoms of heart disease. Because, this examination can help determine how high your risk is for coronary heart disease.
For example, if your heart CT Calcium Score results show a number of 0-10, this means that you are almost unlikely to experience a heart attack due to coronary heart disease, at least for the next 5 years.
Meanwhile, if the test results show positive results with numbers above 100, you are at higher risk of developing heart disease. About a third of people who have a calcium test score above 1,000 have a heart attack within 3 years.
- Helping doctors determine treatment
CT Calcium Score examination of the heart is very important for doctors to be able to determine treatment, such as determining whether or not to start low-dose blood thinners, especially in people who may be at risk of heart disease.
Typically, a CT Calcium Score of the heart is needed for people who refuse certain low-dose heart medications but want to know how much risk they have for heart disease. If the CT Calcium Score of the heart is good, then the doctor may simply ask the patient to maintain a healthy lifestyle to keep their risk low. However, if there is an increased risk, the doctor may consider low-dose heart disease medication to prevent a heart attack.
- Knowing the condition of the heart
Often, symptoms of heart disease are not detected until the condition worsens. By the time symptoms are felt, such as chest pain, the heart and blood vessels may have hardened or narrowed. Performing a CT Calcium Score cardiac examination can help you detect heart conditions before symptoms appear, let alone worsen.
In addition, undergoing a routine CT Calcium Score heart examination every 3-5 years can determine whether you are still at low risk for heart disease or whether it has increased.
Who should undergo CT Calcium Score ?
CT Calcium Score can help doctors make treatment decisions for people at risk for heart disease, especially those in the age group between 40 and 70 years, who have no symptoms.
People at high risk are as follows:
- Having a history of heart disease in the family.
- Smoke
- Have a history of high cholesterol , diabetes or high blood pressure.
- Being overweight ( body mass index , or BMI, higher than 25) or obese (BMI higher than 30).
- Having an unhealthy lifestyle
How is CT Calcium Score performed?
CT Calcium Score is performed using a conventional CT-scan machine to scan your heart, complete with surrounding blood vessels. This test is performed without the need for contrast dye, so there is no need for IV access. During the scan, the area in your coronary blood vessels that is calcified will be immediately visible on the scan results and processed by computer to produce a total Calcium Score number. This procedure only takes a few minutes, which is around 10 to 15 minutes.
What do the results of the tests that have been carried out mean?
A CT Calcium Score result above zero indicates that there is calcification in the walls of your heart blood vessels. This means that you have coronary heart disease. You will also get a number that shows how much calcium is found, ranging from zero to over 1,000.
A higher score indicates that you are at higher risk of having a heart attack as well.
Your healthcare provider will consider your results along with other risk factors to determine your risk for future coronary artery disease. Other risk factors including your family history, lifestyle habits, and medical conditions you have also affect the calcium score.
The CT Calcium Score is a quick, noninvasive test that can help doctors and health care providers make decisions about the health of your heart and blood vessels.
Article written by Dr. Paskalis Indra Suryajaya, Sp.JP, FIHA ( Heart and Blood Vessel Specialist, EMC Grha Kedoya Hospital).