Calcium Heart Scan Score

Posted on November 9th, 2007 by admin

Calcium heart scan score or simply calcium score is the amount of calcium accumulated and dispatched by your body. The score will offer clues about the health of your heart and arteries. In order to get your calcium score, you need to undergo a heart scan.

A heart scan is similar to taking a photo or picture of your heart. If you are over 40 and have two or more of the following risk factors: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, obesity, or sedentary lifestyle, then it’s highly recommended that you take a heart scan. It will reveal how much calcium has been accumulated in your arteries. The presence of calcium indicates the level of damage caused by plaques which are in turn made up of cholesterol and fats.

When plaque in an artery bursts, it can cause a heart attack. But our body is always trying to repair itself, in this case it heals the injury caused by plaques by dispatching calcium to form a scar. It’s this healing process that produces what is known as the calcium score. If the score is high, you are at risk of experiencing a heart attack. So if your calcium score is high, you need to reduce your heart attack risk with medications and lifestyle change.

If you think that you are at risk of heart attack, please take the time to have your scanned and examined by a doctor.