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(Circulation. 2003;108:e50.)
© 2003 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiology Patient Page

Use of New Imaging Techniques to Screen for Coronary Artery Disease

Udo Hoffmann, MD; Thomas J. Brady, MD; James Muller, MD

From the Center of Integration of Medicine and Technology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.

Correspondence to Udo Hoffmann, MD, Center of Integration of Medicine and Technology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 100 Charles River Plaza, Suite 400, Boston, MA 02114. E-mail Hoffmann@helix.mgh.harvard.edu

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Because coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most frequent cause of death in industrialized nations and its onset is currently unpredictable, there is a need for new methods of screening apparently healthy individuals to identify those at increased risk. Technical advances in the noninvasive imaging techniques of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and nuclear imaging now make it possible to image the heart and perform a partial evaluation of the coronary arteries without the need for an invasive procedure such as cardiac catheterization.

Despite these capabilities, prediction of heart attack is likely to require characterization of the amount and composition of atherosclerotic lesions (plaques) within the coronary arteries. At present, CT is the only noninvasive technique in widespread clinical use that can obtain information about the composition of coronary atherosclerotic plaque in living patients. Although the information is currently limited to determination of the presence and amount of calcium in the plaque, the test has already been documented to provide information about the presence of disease or its probability. Thus, many healthy individuals who could be considered at risk for CAD because of age, high cholesterol level, or other factors now wonder if they should undergo CT scanning to determine if their coronary arteries are calcified. The decision to undergo this test is more complicated than might be expected because of conflicting opinions about the significance of coronary artery calcification.

Calcification, Coronary Artery Atherosclerosis, and Coronary Heart Disease

Atherosclerosis is a diffuse disease that affects many arteries of the body, not just the coronary arteries. In . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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