Advertisement

Docs may be closer to finding heart attack risks

Amount of calcium in blood vessels around the heart may be an indicator.

August 23, 2012 at 8:35PM

Cardiologists are constantly searching for better ways to detect heart problems sooner. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested that a test using a CT scan could lead to answers for many of the 33.5 million Americans deemed to be at intermediate risk of heart problems.

The test -- known as a coronary artery calcium score, or CAC -- is found by evaluating the amount of calcium in blood vessels around the heart. Doctors accomplish through a CT scan.

In the new study, a team led by Dr. Joseph Yeboah, assistant professor of internal medicine-cardiology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, found that this test was the most effective of the six different methods to determine someone's risk of future heart problems if they happened to be classified as having an "intermediate" risk of heart disease.

Read more from ABC News.

Advertisement
about the writer

about the writer

Colleen Stoxen

Deputy Managing Editor for News Operations

Colleen Stoxen oversees hiring, intern programs, newsroom finances, news production and union relations. She has been with the Minnesota Star Tribune since 1987, after working as a copy editor and reporter at newspapers in California, Indiana and North Dakota.

See Moreicon

More from No Section

See More

Kyiv was targeted with waves of drone and missile attacks overnight into Friday in the largest aerial assault since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began more than three years ago, officials said, amid a renewed Russian push to capture more of its neighbor's land.

Advertisement
Advertisement

To leave a comment, .

Advertisement