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Extremely high calcium score at 42 - is there any positive here??
Heart & Blood Health | Last Active: Jun 25 3:31pm | Replies (193)Comment receiving replies
If I may suggest, it might be helpful to ask your doctor if it is appropriate to have your lp(a) tested as that can be an outlier that can cause high calcium scores. My typical lipid panel looks normal but my lp(a) is high and is a significant cardio risk factor.
Wishing you well.
Replies to "If I may suggest, it might be helpful to ask your doctor if it is appropriate..."
Actually, looking closer, I do have test results for apolipoprotein-a1 and apoplipoprotein-b:
A1: 155 (range: 100-200 mg/dl)
B: 78 (range: 50-155 mg/dl)
Ratio: 0.46
I’m seeing lots of info that this ratio is very predictive of coronary disease — and my score based on the info I’m finding falls into the low risk/normal category. (>.77 ratio seems to be the cutoff)
My understanding is that apo-a and -b are related to Lp(a)? Does this sound right? If they are both in the normal range, does that indicate that Lp(a) likely is too?
Sorry for all the replies to this, but upon looking even closer at all of my bloodwork I **did** have the LP(a) test and it came back normal, low if anything "<6.00" with a reference range of 10-30 mg/dl.
So really besides slightly elevated LDL (it's been between 100 and 110 in just about all of my bloodwork going back at least a few years), my lipid profile has zero red flags in it. And yet I just popped at 397 calcium score at age 42.
I'm tempted to ask if there could be any error here, or at least if the number could somehow be a lot less 397 while still greater than 0. I do have a CT scan from a few years ago for another issue that incidentally showed the heart; the radiologist noted "mild vascular calcifications." I guess that should have been a warning sign that got me sent to a cardiologist then, but the radiologist didn't make it seem alarming and the doctor didn't even mention it, and I had no idea that there was this kind of significance to any kind of calcification being present at my age. So I guess I know based just on that that I definitely have some calcification and plaque. But again with the lipid profile being good otherwise, how one earth could it be 397?
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Thank you. I’ve had lots of bloodwork done but can’t find any Lp(a) result, so I don’t think it’s been tested. Just reading up on it now; does seem like something to check for (just not sure what to do if it were to be high - looks like no formal treatment yet developed?)
Out of curiosity, do you also have a high CAC score? Thanks again for the suggestion.