Heart Scans

Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death and disability in America. In most cases, the very first sign of heart problems may be the heart attack, which could result in death. Heart disease and heart attacks are usually caused by a process called atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. Heart scans show that with age, cholesterol builds up in the walls of the blood vessels, which is known as plaque build up. Plaque generally keeps growing, starting to obstruct blood flow, resulting in rupture or a heart attack.

There are many heart scans and tests by which physicians identify heart issues. There are blood tests, electro-cardiograms, x-rays, and scans. The newest of these - the 64-slice CT scan - is at present being touted as the most effective test so far. But in fact the latest scanner is the Dual Source CT.  Very few cardiac centers have it the Wellington Hospital in London is one of the few cardiac clinics that have the Dual Source CT scanner. Coronary artery disease has always been difficult to diagnose without an invasive procedure; typically the cardiac catheterization, a procedure that stitches a thin plastic tube into a blood vessel of the arm or leg into the heart. The earliest signs of this coronary artery disease are very small changes in the blood vessel lining or wall of the heart. Due to their small size, it is often difficult to notice such changes without the cardiac catheterization invasive procedure. The unfortunate aspect of this is it often leads to complications such as stroke and bleeding. The new 64-Slice CT scan, on the other hand, can detect those early signs. In many cases, when no plaque buildup is identified, doctors can then treat patients with medication and lifestyle changes that allows them to avoid invasive heart procedures. This new procedure for heart scan is also a lot easier on the body than many other diagnostic procedures which are currently being used. This novel heart scan has been seen to be appropriate for men of age 35 or older and women of age 40 or older with low or moderate risk of heart disease.

Heart disease is very treatable and reversible. Along with the traditional recommendations of diet and exercise, your physician now is armed with new medications which not only lower the total cholesterol in your body, but are also able to stop and reverse the alarming plaque formation. EBT heart scanning can detect heart disease early and so heart attacks and heart surgery can be avoided. Men over 35 and women over 45 years of age must definitely undergo EBT scanning for safety. Apparently healthy individuals often suffer debilitating or fatal heart attacks while their cholesterol was low, while they maintained a relatively healthy diet and exercise program and while they successfully passed the yearly physical exams. So such testing is a must. Earlier scanning is to be considered if you have one or more of the following: a family history of early heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, current or former tobacco usage, or a history of long time exposure to second hand smoke. A heart scan can find the early warning signs of heart disease when it is at a very treatable stage.

Nuclear Heart Scan

Nuclear heart scan is the medical test by which the doctor is able to get important information about the health of your heart. A radioactive material called a tracer is administered into your bloodstream and it travels to your heart. The tracer releases energy, detected by special cameras outside your body. The cameras use the energy to form pictures of different parts of your heart.

Nuclear heart scans are used to provide information about the blood flow within the heart muscle. If the scan depicts one part of the heart muscle to be not receiving blood, it will mean a narrowing or blockage in the coronary arteries. Decreased blood flow through the coronary arteries will mean you have coronary artery disease i.e. CAD which usually leads to angina, heart attack  or other heart problems. The nuclear heart scan is known as myocardial perfusion scanning if it searches for damaged heart muscle. The damage may have occurred as a result of a prior heart attack, injury, infection, or medicine.

During a nuclear heart scan, two sets of pictures are taken. The first set is taken when the heart is beating fast when you are exercising. This is called a cardiac stress test. If you can't exercise, your heart rate can be increased using medicines like adenosine, dipyridamole, or dobutamine. The second set of pictures is taken a little later, when the heart is at rest and beating at its normal pace.

All About EBCT Heart Scan

Heart scanning is fast evolving from just a peek inside the heart into a critical tool preventing cardiac deaths worldwide

EBCT (Electron Beam Computerized Tomography) or CT Heart Scanning has been available in the United States for many years, enabling patients to take a proactive approach in assessing their individual risk of future cardiac events. A study published in the American Journal of Cardiology reinforced the great usefulness of heart scans. The number of patients requesting heart scans is increasing nationally at a great speed.

Who must consider a heart scan ?

The American Heart Association currently recommends EBCT as of great use for those in the “intermediate or moderate” cardiac risk category.

Who should not consider a heart scan?

Medical experts suggest that those with the following conditions should not self refer to a heart scan center since they are already under care or preventative programs:

• Patients who have already had a heart attack
• Patients who have a history of coronary artery bypass graft procedure
• Patients who have had angioplasty with or without stent placement
• Patients with a high risk of heart disease

Although these patients are not advised to self refer, a physician may utilize heart scanning to just supplement the patient care planning and assessment.

What is a heart scan?

• Heart scan is a rapid, non invasive CT scan. Using this, the patient and the physician can look for calcium deposits and blockages in the coronary arteries of the heart.
• The patient is provided with a “score” i.e. coronary calcium score at the end of the test which indicates the risk of coronary events within the next two years.
• The calcium this test scores is an element of plaque (along with fat and cholesterol) that fills up or narrows coronary arteries, leading to heart attack or stroke.

How to understand my coronary calcium score?

• 0 - No plaque has been found. Risk of a heart attack here is very low.
• 1 – 10 - A little amount of plaque is present. There is less than a 10% chance of getting heart disease. Risk of a heart attack is low.
• 11 – 100 - Plaque is present. There is mild heart disease and a little chance of a heart attack.
• 101 – 400 - A moderate amount of plaque is there. There is heart disease and the chance of a heart attack is moderate to high.
• Over 400 - A large amount of plaque has been found. There is more than a 90% chance that plaque is blocking one of the arteries. There is high chance of a heart attack. You need to be put on intensive treatment right away.

What are the risks of having a heart scan?

• Critics talk of false negative results in heart scanning, more so in younger populations. Also, a negative result may not detect soft plaques.
• Critics note that further invasive tests may be performed such as cardiac catherization and/or angioplasty after the heart scan.
• CT scanning increases radiation exposure which is indeed comparable to multiple chest x-rays.

What are the benefits of heart scan?

• Being aware of your risk.
• Dependent on the results, identifying the risk of cardiac event in the immediate future necessitates lifestyle changes and starts a proactive approach by both the patient and the physician towards targeted medical prevention and timely intervention.

In the past few months the Team at Heart-Scan has published and presented a wide range of cardiac research.  This research can be found on the Heart Scan website under the Publications tab.  The primary focus of the cardiac research at Heart Scan, has been on diabetes, nuclear cardiology and the dual source CT scanner.  The cardiac research carried out at Heart Scan is critical as the theoretical can be applied in the practical case and save lives.  This is an unique quality of the Heart-Scan centre that very few centres can duplicate.  It is actually a beautiful blend of latest research with the latest hands-on equipment leading to a better diagnosis and saving lives as a result.  The research at Heart Scan is presented throughout the world at International Conferences, the international conferences tab on the Heart Scan website has the latest schedule of the Heart Scan Team members' presentations.

With so many Scanner Centres throughout Great Britain it is becoming more and more confusing for the consumer to know which scan is most appropriate for their personal health.  At Heart-Scan, the decision is made easier by knowing that the latest equipment (Dual-Source CT and SPECT CT) is being utilized with the experience of Consulting Cardiologists.  A key difference with the Heart Scan centre is the fact that it is a full service scanning centre, so the focus is complete health care, versus scanning centres which only perform scans with Radiologists not Cardiologists.

 If you do not require a scan whether a heart scan or lung scan, Heart-Scan will tell you, unlike perhaps many other scanner centres – that’s the difference.  The latest equipment Dual Source CT Scanner and SPECT CT are used to perform heart scans or calcium scans, lung scans or lung screening, myocardial perfusion imaging, coronary angiography.

This section will also keep the latest updates of both Heart-Scan's Dr. Avijit Lahiri and Dr. David Lipkin, leading cardiologists in the UK. Updates of the latest services and latest equipment at Heart-Scan will also be provided. Whether you need the latest information on a heart scan or a lung scan, a clarification of a thallium scan or MPI scan, look no further as this is your resource for all heart-related information and research.

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The heart investigations are a simple non-invasive test used for early detection of heart disease. With early detection and modifying your risk factors, the potential for advanced heart disease may be significantly reduced and in some cases reversed. The heart investigations are a painless test that takes about 10 minutes. Heart investigations are used for the diagnosis of heart disease. Heart Scan provides powerful tool in the field of heart disease detection.