How to Read a Coronary Calcium Score

According to the National Heart Blood and Lung Institute, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in the U.S. Despite knowing about multiple known risk factors, many deaths still occur. Therefore, CAD tests that detect risk factors can provide important information about possible increasing risk levels and thus lead to intervention before serious damage occurs. The coronary calcium score, obtained by electron beam tomography or multidetector computed tomography is one such test. Calcium in the coronary arteries is a diagnostic marker of atherosclerosis. The degree of calcification can predict the possibility of CAD. The coronary calcium score is a single number. Score ranges provide a risk estimate.

Instructions

• 1

  Interpret a calcium score of zero as very good news. It suggests no identifiable plaque in the heart, making the CAD probability less than 1 percent as well as a high likelihood there is no stenosis (narrowing) of the coronary arteries. The risk of a cardiac event over the next 10 years with this finding is less than 2 percent.

• 2

  Note that with a calcium score between 1 and 80, some small plaque does exist, but the likelihood you have CAD is low. However, the risk of developing cardiovascular complications is three times that of people with no calcium. This puts the individual in the moderate level of concern for more development of atherosclerosis.

• 3

  Keep in mind that when the coronary calcium score is between 80 and 400, there is an eight times greater risk of symptomatic disease in the future, even though at the time of test, there probably was no CAD significant enough to cause any real obstruction of the coronary arteries.

• 4

  Be very concerned that with a coronary calcium score above 400, this indicates a considerable amount of plaque burden in the heart and most likely some narrowing of the cardiac arteries. The risk ratio compared to someone with no calcium in the coronary arteries is 25 times higher. At this point, the heart scan should be repeated annually.