CAC is a step in the right direction. Your friend had MAJOR disease.
Is Calcium Scoring Providing accuracy of Coronary Vessel health/CAD????
Recent publications and Clinical trials are exposing the risk that patients with ZERO CAC Scores
may not be receiving adequate medical therapy, nor know the extent of their disease.
The Fallacy of the Power of Zero (JACC May12, 2022)
1. Among patients with zero CAC (n = 282), the baseline coronary CTA showed coronary
atherosclerosis in 41.4%.
2. On follow-up coronary CTA, patients with zero CAC experienced only a small change
in progression or development of calcified plaque, but PROGRESSION of non-calcified
plaque was common.
3. The potential of plaque quantification to improve the prognostic yield of coronary
CTA was recently demonstrated in SCOT-HEART, in which the burden of LAP (low-
attenuation plaque) was the strongest predictor of incident myocardial infarction,
independent of risk factors, CAC, and stenosis.
The Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage (SCAPIS) Study enrolled over 30,000 patients in
an "open-access" study of Cardiovascular Disease and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
• Coronary artery disease prevalence was approximately 50%, highlighting the
importance of early prevention.
• Over 5% of asymptomatic individuals had a significant (>50%) stenosis
• Zero Calcium Score DOES NOT exclude athersclerosis, stenosis or the presence of high
risk plaque
The Western Denmark Heart Study tracking patients since 1999, including 60,000
CCTA’s, over 90,000 percutaneous coronary interventions, as well as a host of other imaging and
intervention data. The WDHR used CAC as a surrogate marker for atherosclerosis. For patients
with no severe stenosis, atherosclerotic burden was the dominant factor to identify those who
would benefit from statin therapy.
53% of patients with CACS=0 had atherosclerosis
31% of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) occurred in patients with a CACS=0
CAC cannot be used in disease tracking. An increase in CAC score may represent a
number of things: Plaque Progression, Plaque Stabilization or Plaque Regression
Yes Cleerly is the AI company.
I agree about the future but I wouldn't call CAC damn near worthless...maybe in the future. My friend found out he had a widow maker and two other clogged arteries that required a triple bypass. Doctors said he didn't have much longer if he hadn't found it. Now with many other friends and acquaintances that have had it two need stents and third will find out soon.
This is a site that a doctor friend recommended. Not sure if it's the one you were referring to...
https://cleerlyhealth.com