What is a coronary calcium scan?

Based on that information, which has been widely published in over 1,000 publications in the literature, has allowed doctors to risk stratify patients beyond just

asking them questions about their history and asking them about their family history and measuring their cholesterol. [MUSIC PLAYING]

What is a coronary calcium scan? Coronary calcium scanning has been available

in this country for over 25 years. The concept is based on the fact that when plaque builds up

in a coronary artery, approximately 20% of the plaques in men who are over 40 and women over 45

will have calcium deposits in them. And those calcium deposits can be seen very clearly on a CAT

scan or a CT scan of the heart. Over the years, we've developed methods to quantify the amount of calcium

in a person's coronary arterial tree, and that amount of calcium is correlated with events such as heart attack, need for bypass

surgery, death. Based on that information, which has been widely published in over 1,000 publications in the literature,

has allowed doctors to risk stratify patients beyond just asking them questions about their history

and asking them about their family history and measuring their cholesterol. They can now look in even more detail into a person's coronary tree before they have any symptoms

at all to see whether they're at risk for future cardiac events, and then, to implement therapies to allow for prevention.