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Experience Many Years After High CAC
Like apparently many on this site I recently received an unexpected high CAC score. 99th percentile for age and gender. 60ish years old. CT angiogram showed no stenosis greater than 50%.
I am interested to hear the experience of others in this situation that got the high score 5 or more years ago. How are you doing? How do you monitor your condition?
I am worried because for decades before the CAC score, I had a normal BMI, normal lipid profile, exercised 4 or more times a week, and ate a reasonable diet, though not vegetarian. I have gone vegan and started on statins. Hopefully that will improve my odds.
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Pretty much the same situation. CAC 1100 at 61, retested at 66 (this year) and CAC up to 1300 with increase in stenosis. The stenosis levels (up to 70%) prompted an FFR analysis which showed an unstentable blockage (FFR was 0.76) in my distal LAD. No plans to address this until it causes a problem.
However, the knowledge that you have CAD should make you vigilant to be aware of other areas where the same plaque building mechanism can cause other problems. In my case, this means chronic microvascular ischemia in my brain and lacunic strokes. This causes more problems than the CAD. Last week during a routine checkup my doctor is concerned that I may have some blockage in my right carotid artery. Five years ago when diagnosed with the high CAC they did a carotid ultrasound and found bilateral carotid blockages of 19-39%. Retest week after next. Stay tuned. At this point the neurological issues outweigh the cardiac issues since there are limited ways to adress them.
Sorry to hear about the increase in stenosis. I have been concerned that when there aren’t many lifestyle changes to make, it’s an indication that the progression will be hard to stop. Your story indicates that may be true. I have atherosclerosis in my carotid arteries and also PAD. May I ask whether you have been on statins? May I ask why the LAD was unstentable? Hard calcium??
I've been on statins since they first came out (30 yrs?) progressing from Mevacor , Zocor, Lipitor and now Crestor (20mgs). I have bad genes (father died when I was 15 and Mother when I was 21, both heart attacks. It seems that the earlier statins began to lose effectiveness despite increasing dosages, but I have been on Crestor for several years without an increase in dosage and my cholesterol numbers are great (I take 10mgs of Zetia also).
The LAD is unstentable due to location and multiple lesions. If it becomes problematic there is always the CABG option.