Coronary artery calcification (CAC) screening.
What is Coronary Artery Calcium (CAC) Test?
CAC (Coronary Artery Calcium Score) is a test to detect plaque or calcium on the walls of the arteries in the heart using a high-speed, high-resolution computerized tomography (CT) scan that shows the quality of blood flow and deterioration of the coronary arteries. It can detect changes from normal conditions in the early stages, even though there are no symptoms. The results will help doctors assess the risk of coronary artery disease in the future before symptoms of myocardial infarction from acute occlusion of the arteries occur, which has a high chance of death.
Who should get a coronary artery calcification (CAC) test?
People who are at risk for coronary artery disease or have degenerative arteries should get a CAC test, including:
- People aged 45 years and above, both men and women, especially postmenopausal women.
- People who are at risk of heart disease, such as those with diabetes, kidney disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity or being extremely overweight.
- People with a family history of coronary artery disease
- People who smoke or are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke
- People with high blood fat or cholesterol (should not be higher than 200 mg/dL)
- People with high triglycerides (should not be higher than 150 mg/dL)
- People with high LDL cholesterol (LDL) (should not be higher than 130 mg/dL)
- People with low HDL (should be higher than 40 mg/dL)
Coronary Artery Calcification (CAC) Test Procedure
Patients undergoing CAC เล่น UFABET ผ่านมือถือ สะดวกทุกที่ ทุกเวลา will change into a gown provided by the hospital and must remove glasses, dentures, and any jewelry. Patients will then lie flat on the examination table. The bed will slowly move into the scanner until their chest is aligned with the scanning ring. The scanner will start scanning by rotating around to emit X-rays from all sides.