Heart disease is often called a silent killer because plaque can build up in the arteries for years without symptoms. A heart scan — also called a calcium score test — is designed to reveal that plaque before it causes a heart attack.

Key Points

• A heart scan uses CT to measure calcified plaque in the coronary arteries.
• The quality of the interpretation matters as much as the scan itself.
• Heart and lung disease share risk factors, so many people pair a heart scan with a lung scan.
• Lung cancer, like heart disease, often causes no symptoms until it's advanced.

What a Heart Scan Measures

A heart scan identifies calcium deposits in the coronary arteries — a marker of atherosclerotic plaque, the process that narrows arteries and leads to heart attacks. The result is reported as a coronary calcium score, which helps estimate future risk. Learn more on the heart scan page.

Why Interpretation Matters

Not all heart scans are equal. Modern CT equipment is important, but a scan is only as useful as the expert reading it. A board-certified radiologist should review the images and prepare a formal report, which can also note findings outside the coronary arteries. Without that review, the value of the test is limited. The physicians who read scans at Advanced Body Scan are listed on its physicians page.

Why Add a Lung Scan?

Heart and lung disease frequently share risk factors such as smoking. Lung cancer is the deadliest form of cancer in the U.S. and, like heart disease, often doesn't cause symptoms until it has progressed. For that reason, many people choose to combine a heart scan with a lung scan.

The Takeaway

A heart scan is a fast, non-invasive way to see what's happening in your arteries before symptoms appear. Make sure your results include a full radiology report, and consider whether lung imaging makes sense for you.