Can this artery screening tool help prevent a heart attack?

[MarketWatch, December 27, 2019] In this article, Abbott Northwestern Hospital hospitalist Dr. Craig Bowron discusses the value of Coronary Artery Calcium (CAC) screening using CT scans to determine whether coronary arteries are blocked.

Dr. Michael Miedema, a cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute, who specializes in heart disease prevention, is a fan of CAC scoring.

“It’s, basically, the only test we have that trumps age in terms of its ability to predict cardiovascular mortality,” Miedema says. “And interestingly, it’s quite predictive of all-cause mortality as well, primarily because of what are called ‘shared risk factors’—things like smoking that not only increase cardiovascular mortality but also increase cancer mortality.”

Read the full article online at www.marketwatch.com.