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High Coronary Calcium Score: How do others feel emotionally?
Heart & Blood Health | Last Active: Feb 13 9:01am | Replies (640)Comment receiving replies
My cardiologist told me that at this time there is no way to distinguish between vulnerable and non-vulnerable plaque, and the level of calcification is not an indicator. He said the first one to come with such a test will probably win the Nobel Prize for medicine.
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Well @keithl56, issues surrounding calcified and noncalcified plaque in the circulatory system are more complicated than one thinks and beyond the expected expertise of one cardiologist. Citations from Mayo Clinic show at least three major divisions of disease in which calcified and noncalcified plaque is crucial -- 1) myocardial ischemia in the heart, 2) peripheral artery disease (especially in arteries serving the head and the brain), and 3) arteriovenous malformations in the brain and a few other organs.
My own experience relates to diagnostic tests in search of plaque that may have caused my stroke this summer. Fortunately, plaque was not the cause, but a broadly based investigation by my medical team considered that possibility and the question of calcification of the plaque they located. Apparently Mayo Clinic and my HMO are ahead of the crowd on issues of calcified and noncalcified arterial plaque.