High Calcium Scores On CT Scanning Changes Physician and Patient Behavior

Investigators at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions in Chicago this week have reported that when patients are found to have an elevated calcium score on cardiac CT scans, they are more likely to be placed on prophylactic therapy with statins and aspirin.

It has long been known that when CT scanning reveals coronary artery calcium deposits, the odds of having underlying coronary artery disease - and thus the odds of having a heart attack - are elevated. It has never been clear, however, whether learning of a high calcium score will motivate doctors to recommend more aggressive risk factor management. Doctors should already know the patient's risk is high, the argument goes, from more traditional risk factors, without incurring the expense of CT scanning.

The information reported this week (which came from the Prospective Army Coronary Calcium Project) seems to suggest that a high calcium score can indeed push doctors - and their patients - off the fence, and prod them to use risk-lowering therapies. This new evidence should amplify the recent recommendations from an AHA writing group that, for the first time, recommends calcium score screening for many asymptomatic individuals.