Do I need a Heart Scan? part 2

There is still a lot of controversy about heart scans. If you have no family history, or risk factors then your risk of having a heart attack is very low. The heart scan in this instance will tell you what you and your doctor already know. In this case, the best advice is to get a second opinion and keep away from the physician who owns the machine.

Because of the rampant abuse of heart scans by physicians to generate income, the American College of Cardiology has developed guidelines to determine if you need a heart scan.

Individuals who do not need a heart Scan:

You do not need a heart scan if you are younger than age 55, have normal cholesterol, well controlled blood pressure and you do not smoke. In such a scenario, you have a very low risk of a heart attack. Since you are already at low risk, a heart scan will not tell the doctor anything new or what it not already known. The only thing a heart scan does in such a case is increase the doctor’s income by another $1,500.

A heart scan is not needed in individuals who have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoke and are over 65. these individuals are at high risk of a heart attack. Since both you and your doctor know this, a heart scan is useless. Hopefully, you have a decent doctor who will try and help you bring the cholesterol down and control your blood pressure. If you are smoking, you better quit. But you definitely do not need a heart scan

Individuals who have already had a heart attack should not have a heart scan because it does not tell anything new.

Individuals who have already had a open heart bypass should not have a heart scan because the scan can not reveal anything new. Similarly, individuals who have had angioplasty or ballooning of their coronaries should not have a heart scan. In all these cases, it is known that you are already at a high risk for a heart attack or have had one. So a heart scan is useless.

So when does one need a heart scan?

There are some individuals who fall some where in the middle. These individuals are in between the age of 55-65, may have borderline cholesterol, high blood pressure or may be light smokers. In such cases, the risk for a heart attack is not known. Thus, a heart scan may help determine the risk if you have any chest pain, especially if the doctor does not know what is causing your chest pain.

Do I need a Heart Scan?

Everywhere in America, doctors have set up machines to screen the body. There are machines to screen your breasts, others machines to screen your lungs, others for your brain, your bones, your rectum, etc and now we have a machine to screen the heart. The heart scan is the latest device on market. With marketing ploys that frighten consumers like “you will die”, “you will get a heart attack” , “cholesterol is bad” and so on, these hyped up ads have been designed to scare consumers into thinking that death can occur any second from a heart attack.

Come-on doctors, Enough with these ads- relax, take a pill, get an enema and chill out.

What is a heart scan?

The heart scan is a technique that takes pictures of your heart and measures levels of calcium in your coronary vessels. You lie on a table, which enters a Tunnel with a camera. The camera takes pictures and in 5 minutes, it is all over- just $1,500 for this great procedure that can look at anatomy of your heart.

Physician now use heart scans to determine amount of calcium in your coronary vessels. If you have more calcium in your blood vessels, then it is bad. The higher the calcium score, the worse it is for you- at least this is what is speculated by the doctors who use heart scans.

Rather than go into mundane details, it is known that when cholesterol deposits in your blood vessels. Calcium also accumulates at the same time. Since we have no good way of measuring cholesterol deposits in a live human, the next best thing is to measure calcium levels. If the levels of calcium are high in your blood vessels, then it is bad.

The ads claims that if you have lot of calcium in your coronary vessels, you have a high risk of heart attack even if you do not have any symptoms- Such claims are bull because many people have calcium in their blood vessels and live a long healthy life without getting a heart attack.

Today, heart scans have popped up everywhere; in supermarkets, shopping centers, in every health care facility and plazas. Almost all doctors have a heart machine in their office or know of someone who has it. There are some doctors who own mobile heart scans that can come to your home.