For over ten years, the procedure referred to as coronary artery scanning, cardiac calcification scoring, and heartscoring, has been clinically investigated.  In some areas, such as Chicago, it is already widely-utilized.  However, though it is a quick, easy procedure, and is the single best non-invasive test for predicting heart attack, the technology has not been readily available to the public.  With over 200 peer-reviewed clinical studies to support the test, access to the test itself has become the single greatest obstacle to its acceptance into mainstream medicine.  With the advent of the new gated helical CT (GHCT) technology, however, access to the procedure is rapidly diminishing as an issue.

While most clinical validation has been performed on the electron beam CT (EBCT, or ultrafast CT), the readily available GHCT systems have proven to detect silent heart disease just as well.  The rapid increase in number of providers, and the demand by the public to detect heart disease earlier, will drive utilization of this procedure just as screening mammography was driven a decade ago.

Below are a few of the benchmark studies that validate the clinical use of the heartscore procedure.  Scores of additional clinical references are noted on the website, www.heartscore.com.

Section 1. Correlating Calcium Score and Atherosclerotic Plaque

Section 2. Correlating Heartscoring with Angiographic and Myocardial Perfusion Abnormalities

Section 3. The Prognostic Value of EBCT

Section 4. Using EBCT to Track Progression or Regression of Coronary Atherosclerosis

Section 5. GHCT: A Desireable Alternative Technology for Quantification of Coronary Artery Calcium