- Family history of premature heart disease —
Only a heartscan can determine which family members have early
heart disease. We often find siblings with dramatically different
scan results. We can now treat people as INDIVIDUALS and leave
those with no plaque alone!
- Preventive interests by screening noninvasive tests —
Just as one gets a mammogram to look for unexpected breast
disease, a heartscan is a way to detect heart disease that could
not be predicted based upon risk factors.
- Risk factors like high cholesterol —
Many people with high cholesterol have no plaque on a heartscan—perhaps
many of them do not need to be on medications yet. Others have
more plaque than most people their age—perhaps they would be
best treated according to the guidelines designed for people
with heart disease (for example, statin medications to get LDL
cholesterol below 100).
- Episodes of chest pain that doctor believes is unlikely to be
heart-related —
The EBT heartscan can be very helpful in this situation to
help confirm that the chest pain is unlikely coronary in origin.
We strongly encourage, however, that any such person work with
a doctor who can use this test along with other advisable tests
and examinations.
- General worry about heart disease —
A major purpose of the heartscan is to determine whether
an individual has much more or much less plaque than would
be expected based upon risk and age. If one has lots of plaque,
the test is an opportunity to lower risks dramatically. If
there is little or no calcified plaque, then the scan can
provide reassurance that risks are acceptably low.
