Cardio Scan LAD-346

Try not to panic. 346 is not an ohmygod number. You can live a normal life with that. I have a 205 and I still go jogging with my cardiologist's blessing.

If you've been on a statin, that would have calcified existing soft plaque, which is good but will raise your score. The scan measures calcified plaque,not soft plaque, so if the statin does that, by definition it has raised your score. Soft plaque is dangerous because it can break off and cause a clot. Calcified plaque is much more stable.

This isn't a sudden condition. If you had taken that test ten years ago, it probably still would be a non-zero result. You just didn't know it. The statin has helped prevent further buildup.

Your cardiologist may want to do an angiogram just to get in there and check it out. He may increase your statin dose so that you can get your LDL even lower. And you should pay attention to your diet if you're not already.

If you had a major blockage, you'd probably have noticed some symptoms by now.

In order to help you to look at your circumstances analytically, and to try to beat down the emotion (which is perfectly understandable), I will ask you the same question that I make myself address in apparently urgent or novel situations:

What was the extent of deposition in the LAD ......BEFORE....you had the diagnostic imaging?

You don't know the answer. Or, if you do, from a previous diagnostic image session, what is the delta....the 'difference'...between then and now? I'll bet it's not a lot.

What I'm trying to get at is that the CAC score, or the extent of deposition in the LAD, is a number. I'd be willing to bet that four years ago, for a person who has been on statins a good long time, the number was probably all the way up to 315 already. So you are not depositing much over time, which is what you want to see. Another way of looking at it is this: maybe, without the statin working in you, you'd be up to 800 by now. You can see that it wouldn't be what one might call a salutary place to be.

The person replying just above has it correctly...it's just a number, and the 'directionality', or the speed of deposition, is unknown. However, the statistical probability is that it is much slower than if you had not been on a statin, and even so, at 346, you have a long way to go before you start to experience signs of ischemia. Probably 15 years. By then, you might qualify for an operation to stent or to bypass, or maybe just an angioplasty...I'm not an expert in this.

Virtually nobody gets to their death, accidental or natural, without a healthy sprinkling of calcified plaque in their system. The heart gets some, the carotid arteries get some, the groin area gets some. What you want to avoid is unnoticed and unmanaged deposition, especially in that gruesome LAD. Yours is both noticed and managed.

Go have a goblet of really good wine. 😀

Hello and thank you for thoughtful response. I guess I don't know how high is dangerous and I didn't know there was soft/calcified plaque. It just said I was in the 90-100% percentile for my age. Thus, the panic.
I also run, but have bad genetics for the cholesterol. I've managed to escape the family diabetic disease but cannot seem to conquer the lipids.
I'm hoping for the best as I just lost my husband in July. Not ready to get on the medical bandwagon...

Hi there. Thank you for the message. I did have a scan 4 years ago in 2021. Those results were: Left = 20 (0 now), Right = 0 (0 now), LAD= 157 (346 now), and circumflex - 64 (now 0). I was considered 75 percentile. Kind of interesting that the left and circumflex are now 0. However, the LAD indicates a significant increase. I had a stress test but nothing really came from things. I had the glass of wine but I'm still nervous.

I felt fine. Never any symptoms. The calcium scan surprised both me and my doctor. I had an angiogram which revealed some narrowing of one artery (doctor said "this isn't too bad") and another blockage in a different artery that wasn't an issue because there were other arteries literally bypassing it and supplying blood to that part of my heart. I also take a statin which I assume has drastically lowered my LDL cholesterol by now.

I still feel fine and I have no trouble running. I do pay more attention to my diet.

There's a lot they can do with hearts now. It doesn't have to be perfect for it to do its job. Don't be afraid of taking a statin if needed. It's like taking an aspirin for me; I don't even notice it.

I don't think it's possible for calcium to disappear, or from previous reading, to decrease - this is worth investigating further, I believe.

This is also my understanding. More likely it has to do with operator error, or what is known as 'inter-operator reliability' errors. People can use the same machine, but measuring the same componentry of a 'target' yields substantially different results. This is due solely, presumably, to the way each operator tech uses the implements involved.

But, I cease being an expert on these things when I turned four.

I’m asking for a redo at another center. I have to pay since insurance doesn’t cover this test. I’m suspicious.
You may not be an expert, however you and others on here are invaluable to many who are looking for better information than a google search.
Thank you.