High Coronary Calcium Score: How do others feel emotionally?

hi @ochip

All of the lifestyle changes and meds are meant to reduce your risks of having a cardiac event, they have no bearing on lowering the calcium score. Actually once you are diagnosed with CAD due to a high calcium score there is little merit in repeated CT tests. Just as important as your total score is where you are in percentile for your age group. Just concentrate on controlling the factors that are within your power and be vigilant.

Hello. New to group. 58 year old male. My primary Dr. had me take the CT heart scan because my cholesterol was high. Actually my bad was high but my good and triglycerides were very good. In other words, my ratios were excellent. I do eat a lot of dairy up till two days ago. Other than that, I eat pretty well. I've worked out most of my life and keep my weight and waist at high school levels. I'm 5'9" and weigh 157. Father had heart issues including two valve transplants and passed away at 75 when we believe a stent may have dislodged a few days after surgery. Expected to see a score of 0, but shocked to see a score of 510. Also, according to Dr. most of the calcium is in the artery they call the window maker and I've been advised to get a nuclear stress test to pin point it. I went on 10mg of Crestor and a baby aspirin yesterday. Something I said I would never do.
What I'm reading here that is very concerning is that everyone seems to be saying the same thing. That even though they are doing everything possible including exercise (which, by the way, most people in this country rarely do) , diet and statins, it's not changing anything with regard to the calcium score. In fact, it almost seems the opposite. All the scores seemed to have only increased doing the right thing. Has anyone had any positive results at all from the treatment and lifestyle changes? Has anyone actually seen there score at least stay the same? Like everyone else, I feel like a walking time bomb. One more note, blood pressure 105/77. EKG always fine. No symptoms at all. Thanks for your anticipated input.

I had a stress test with echocardiogram yesterday. I was on the treadmill for 11.5 minutes and reached my maximum calculated heart rate of 151. That eases my mind. I have a follow-up appointment with my pcp on Monday to review the results and decide on a treatment plan.

Hi @nyartist,

Here's some information about
– Coronary angiogram: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/coronary-angiogram/about/pac-20384904
– CT coronary angiogram https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/ct-coronary-angiogram/about/pac-20385117

@dpframing They administer an IV for contrast? Is it some kind of CT scan or something else entirely?

The angiogram is the best thing out there to check for CAD. Painless - I fell asleep during mine and woke up wen it was over. It’s a movie of how much narrowing or blockages there are in the coronary srteries

@dpframing how is the angiogram administered and does it find things that the cardiac CT scan doesn't find? I had the high score on calcium and would like to take the next step to find out about blood flow.

My LAD score was 1300 alone and my total score was 2996. I got an angiogram which showed most of the calcium was in the walls of the arteries and the blood flow was good- no stents needed. So keep hoping- try not to worry. You may be ok

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a good result from my Stress/Echo test this Thursday. I feel like a sinking ship with no freight to throw overboard. Any heart-healthy changes in lifestyle were made long ago. The plaque is already deposited and isn't going away. I'm guessing I'll be put on high-dose statins and maybe a daily aspirin. Or, if I have a major blockage, a stent or two. The calcium score is high in the right circumflex artery--1200--and the LAD--250.

Hi @tim1028,

I can completely understand your worry – any news concerning the heart can be so scary! I'd like to offer some information, provided by Cardiology at Mayo Clinic:

Calcification in the coronaries indicates coronary artery disease – if you do have calcium, you have plaque. Having a stress test is a good start, not to discern whether the plaque is normal or not, but to inform whether a person is at greater risk to have a heart attack.

To further explain...
Previous studies have shown that calcified, or stable plaque, is less prone to rupture than non-calcified, or soft plaque.
Calcium scoring measures how much calcified plaque a person has, but it doesn't measure non-calcified or soft plaque. A CT is accurate in detecting high calcification volumes, but may not tell whether that plaque is vulnerable or not.

Until then, the best way to predict whether calcification in the coronaries will result in a heart attack is to do stress testing. With plaque, even if the stress test is normal, aggressive risk factor modification is recommended – stop smoking, engage in an exercise regimen, and aggressive management of diabetes and hypertension, and lowering of total cholesterol, especially bad cholesterol (LDL) is recommended. If the CT scan shows no coronary calcium on CT scan, your cardiologist will recommend that you be periodically reassessed.

To summarize, if you have negative coronary calcium, the chances of you developing a heart attack are small. If you have a positive scan – then yes – we don’t know who will develop a heart attack amongst these patients, but stress testing will help differentiate. There are new diagnostic tests that have been developed to assess plaque vulnerability (the plaque that is likely to rupture and result in a heart attack), and clinical trials to show that a coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) can capture the full anatomy of the coronary arteries in a single heartbeat, and can provide a picture of the total amount of plaque throughout the arteries of the heart. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/316408.php

@tim1028, I encourage you to watch these videos where Mayo Clinic cardiologists offer detailed information; I sincerely hope this will help alleviate some of your concerns:
– Coronary Calcium Score: Basics and Beyond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP7cyrjYwic
– The Pathogenesis of Plaque Rupture (Vulnerable Plaque) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtinJfbE0Q8