diagnosed with calcified arteries

[Swifto]

Is the white on my image the plaque build up ?

Put in ChatGPT.

The whites, to me, look like your bones. Not all white is calcification. Calcification sits in arteries.

 

[jl9987]

Here is a fact a lot of people do not know. A CT (coronary calcium) gives you a CAC score. It will tell you if you have calcification of plaque in your arteries. It can ONLY measure calcified plaque, not soft plaque. Soft plaque is unstable and is the usual culprit for causing heart attacks. The only way to see soft plaque is through an angiogram. That is very intrusive and only administered to those who had a heart attack or are showing symptoms because they typically add stents during the procedure if needed. So, a CT scan will show you calcified plaque which is actually STABLE and not likely to cause a heart attack. The "THEORY" is, if you have a lot of calcified plaque you probably have a commensurate amount of soft (dangerous) plaque. IF YOU TAKE A STATIN YOUR CAC SCORE WILL INCREASE! This is not a bad thing. What has happened is, the statin helps stabilize the soft plaque (making it calcified) which is safer, but at the same time, it is now detectable so your number will rise. Conversely, you can have a zero CAC score but still die of a heart attack simply because the soft plaque has not yet calcified and cannot be detected in a CT scan.

On a side note I did have an angiogram, and the results were very similar to my CAC score, so in my case, it was pretty accurate. BTW I take: Atorvastatin, Citrulline, Arginine, baby asprin, krill oil, pomegranate capsules, and Turmeric for cardiac health.

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Put in ChatGPT.

The whites, to me, look like your bones. Not all white is calcification. Calcification sits in arteries.

You’re not misreading casually, but yes — that “309” is not your CAC (Agatston) score. It’s a very common point of confusion.

Why that “309” is not the CAC score​

In that table:

• “Cuantificación calcio” = the scan series name (the calcium-scoring acquisition)
• The 309 appears in the left-most numeric column, which corresponds to scan length / projections / acquisition parameter, not a result

If it were a CAC score, you would see wording like:

• “Agatston”
• “Calcium score”
• “Score total”
• Or a breakdown by artery (LAD, RCA, LCx, LM)