Heart Score Home - Testing - Technology - Risk Factors
Heartscoring (Cardiac Calcification Scoring)*  Atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, is characterized by the build-up of plaque which lines the inner walls of the vessels. This gradually narrows the opening (lumen) through which the blood can flow, and increases the risk of heart attack.  The previous methods of determining the extent of atherosclerosis have been either very expensive, or very inconclusive.  Now, with heartscoring, the test has become simple, accurate, and affordable.
As a person ages, the arterial plaque tends to harden, or calcify.  This allows it to be imaged by xrays.  Computed tomography (CT) is the xray imaging technology used for heartscoring because it allows a 3-dimensional determination of the location, and extent of the calcification.  This is expressed as a "score".  The cardiologist, or radiologist, considers the score, as well as the location of the plaques, in determining the risk percentile to be assigned to a patient.  If a patient is categorized as 70th percentile, for example, it would mean that his heartscore indicates that he is at higher risk for heart attack than 69% of the men in his age range. 

Because most acute coronary ischemic events are caused by the rupture or erosion of moderately (between 40-60%) narrowed coronary segments, the best indicator of future risk is the total coronary plaque burden — and not the presence or absence of high grade narrowings.
 
Lipid Profiling 
The accumulation of plaque within the arteries has been strongly linked to the amount of cholesterol within the blood.  (This is why a elevated cholesterol measurement is considered a cardiac risk factor.) Low density lipoproteins (LDL) and high density lipoproteins (HDL) make up most of the "total cholesterol".  However, because HDL is considered good, and LDL is considered bad, it is important to measure for both.  In addition, since triglycerides can become cholesterol, it is important to measure for their concentration also.  The simultaneous measurement of all of these is called a Lipid Profile. 

With  a single finger-stick, these can be measured at the HeartScore facility.  It can be accomplished in 5 minutes, and you can leave with the results in-hand.  If you are on cholesterol-lowering medication, or subsequently start a medication program, you may want to stop back for retesting so that we can gauge your progress.

Blood Pressure Measurement 
High blood pressure is another of the cardiac risk factors.  Before any patient receives a heartscore exam, their blood pressure and pulse are measured.




* Cardiac calcification scoring, coronary artery scanning, heart scanning, and coronary calcium scoring are terms which describe the assessment of calcium within the arteries of the heart. For simplicity sake, we refer to this as heartscoring. Extensive clinical validation of this procedure has been performed at sites employing the electron beam CT technology (EBCT). Another technology which has recently been employed is called gated helical CT (GHCT). It has been validated by demonstrating a high correlation of results with EBCT. All references in this website to heartscoring are generic, and concern the procedure itself, not the technology employed.