3 ms·
My cardiologist pointed out that hard calcified plaques are unlikely to come loose, so unless there’s significant narrowing, they’re not a big problem. However,
by wrs 1y ago
My cardiologist pointed out that hard calcified plaques are unlikely to come loose, so unless there’s significant narrowing, they’re not a big problem. However, that situation correlates with a high calcium score. So the calcium score is not always correlated to risk.
A CT angiogram distinguishes soft vs. hard plaques (and shows narrowing), so that’s the ultimate way to clarify the situation. (Bearing in mind radiation exposure risk and cost, of course.)
- anonzzzies 1y agoIt is free where I am but the radiation is a problem: maybe every 5 years is OK?
- rsanek 1y agoyeah generally CT scan has crazy amount of radiation. want to probably switch to another test (like an echocardiogram) for long term monitoring
- throwaway7783 1y agoCalcium score is mostly for trends over a period of time, to get a sense of progression of disease. A single reading is not very useful is what I was told
- 01100011 1y agoYeah. Dr. Ford Brewer(https://www.youtube.com/@PrevMedHealth https://www.youtube.com/@PrevMedHealth) talks a lot about this. I find him to be pretty current and he translates things into an easily understood format. Basically the calcium stabilizes the plaque. Unstabilized plaque is what can rupture, squirting out from the artery wall into the blood and forming a clot. High cholesterol can cause deposits in the artery wall simply due to chemical diffusion. Inflammation, often caused by metabolic syndrome/diabetes expands the plaques. Idk, I probably got that wrong, but anyway calcium scores aren't well correlated with risk.
- Jarmsy 1y agoDon't statins calcify plaques? So presumably being on statins would raise the score?
- wrs 1y agoExactly, the score would be going up, but for a good reason. Best to have no plaques, second best to have calcified ones.
- quantumwoke 1y agoBetter characterisation on CAC is key. This is a software problem - AI will help.