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Cardiovascular
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I lately had a CAT scan of my chest as an analysis for pneumonia. I didn’t have pneumonia, however I acquired an sudden high calcium rating in my coronary arteries. Does the calcium I eat have an effect on this? I believed calcium was associated to bone health? Now I’m being evaluated for my risk of heart disease and stroke. Should others in my household get their calcium rating?
ANSWER: A coronary calcium scan is a risk evaluation instrument that helps your healthcare staff advocate if measures are wanted to decrease your risk of coronary artery disease. The scan could present the presence of disease even earlier than somebody has signs, similar to chest pain, shortness of breath and fatigue.
Calcium from the meals we eat or calcium dietary supplements do not need a big affect on coronary artery calcification.
A coronary calcium scan predicts your quantity of atherosclerosis, which is ldl cholesterol and different substances that construct up and slender your arteries and can probably trigger a blood clot. Calcium is present on this buildup, referred to as coronary plaque. The extra calcium you will have in your coronary arteries, the extra plaque you will have. The extra plaque, the upper your risk for coronary artery disease.
The coronary calcium scan begins with a CT scan of your chest that measures calcification within the arteries that feed your heart. It’s usually a one-time take a look at that mixes a sequence of X-ray pictures of your body. If calcification is discovered, we normally do not repeat the take a look at. If zero calcification is discovered, we’d repeat the scan a couple of years later to see if the rating adjustments.
Scores should be interpreted within the context of a person’s age and different particular person risk elements. For essentially the most half, when calcium will get in your arteries, it stays there; it does not get eliminated. But by reducing your ldl cholesterol degree via diet or medications, the ldl cholesterol will get eliminated and the plaque stabilizes.
Nowadays a calcium rating could be derived from any chest CT scan, if no distinction dye is used. In your case, a chest CT scan for pneumonia additionally confirmed a high calcium rating, although that was not the preliminary intent of the take a look at. I commend your healthcare staff for utilizing your calcium outcome to give you follow-up evaluation and attainable therapy based mostly in your risk of a heart assault or stroke.
Certain individuals don’t must get their calcium rating. For instance, for individuals who already take a ldl cholesterol treatment or who’ve had a stent or coronary artery bypass surgery, a calcium rating just isn’t wanted. In these conditions, they already are taking steps to scale back their risk.
People with a household historical past of heart disease could need to focus on a coronary calcium scan with their healthcare specialist. For instance, when you’ve got first-degree family members who’ve had heart attacks, however your ldl cholesterol just isn’t high, a superficial risk evaluation could say you are at low risk. A calcium rating goes to have the ability to consider risk extra exactly and point out if further testing needs to be finished. — Regis Fernandes, M.D., Cardiovascular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix
