CT Scans Show Heart Disease Decades before the Dawn of Symptoms

CT imaging techniques are being used to detect heart disease prior to patient symptoms

Orange County, CA - April 27th 2017 - CT imaging techniques are being used to detect heart disease prior to patient symptom divulgence. Sudden Cardiac arrest currently accounts for 95 percent of fatalities in diagnosed cases. Research reveals that heart disease is discovered in 40 to 60 percent of individuals when their first heart attack occurs or upon death due to complications. The ability of these techniques advancing diagnosis and treatment have increased interest in their adoption into the preliminary stages of scanning for heart disease.

An article in the journal JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging explained that a CT imaging technique called a Coronary Artery Calcium (CAC) scan has been advantageous in early diagnosis. Although the leading cause of death in the United States, physicians have unsuccessfully been able to screen for early heart disease. Currently, reports of family history and blood tests are the only available methods to test a patient for future implications of such disease. However, “a CAC scan can detect heart disease decades before the symptoms of heart disease first appear,” states Alan Rozanski, MD, the study’s lead author. He also serves as chief academic officer and director of the cardiology fellowship training program for the division of cardiology at Mount Sinai St. Lukes Hospital in New York. Rozanski went on to explain that the CAC scans emit very low radiation exposure and are more cost effective than other types of imaging.