Coronary calcium score - a non-invasive method for the detection and quantification of coronary atherosclerosis

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases pose a significant medical problem in the developed world. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common of these and is the cause of more than half the cases of heart failure in the general population below 75 years of age. Atherosclerosis lies at the basis of the majority of CHD cases. As the early detection of asymptomatic CHD may lower patient morbidity and mortality, there is an ongoing search for non-invasive diagnostic techniques. Computed tomography, which enables coronary artery calcification to be assessed, is one of these. Examples of the implementation of a calcium score, both in asymptomatic patients and in patients with diagnosed CHD, are presented in this paper.