How can a heart attack be predicted months in advance?

Heart attacks can be predicted months in advance by assessing the risk factors of the patient, which include hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, diabetes and tobacco use, along with obesity, lack of exercise, and elevated inflammatory markers such as CRP. Stress testing such as exercise treadmill testing, stress echo, multiple imaging, CT scanning with calcium scores, or angiography may show significant disease in the heart. If this is left untreated there is an increased risk that the patient would have a heart attack. Many times patients will begin to have chest pain syndromes before they actually have a heart attack. If they go see the doctor this can be recognized and stabilized before a heart attack occurs. A great deal of research is currently being done to find newer markers that can help predict the risk of a heart attack before it occurs.