Coronary Artery Calcification: Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

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Coronary Calcification

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Causes And Treatment Of Coronary Calcification

Coronary artery calcification is a buildup of calcium in your heart’s arteries, known as the coronary arteries. For reasons that are not understood, whenever plaque begins to form in an artery one of the components of the plaque is calcium. Understandably, many patients with calcium in their arteries conclude that they need to restrict the calcium in their diet but this is incorrect. The calcium deposits are a byproduct of the plaque, just as smoke is a byproduct of a fire. They have nothing to do with the amount of calcium in the diet. The amount of calcium can be measured but unfortunately the calcium level does not correlate with the severity of the blockages. Think of calcium scoring like apregnancy test. It can say if you are pregnant but it can’t predict the gender of the baby nor how many weeks pregnant you are.

It’s natural to feel apprehensive about medical tests. At CVG, we offer many reasons to feel reassured about your coronary calcification tests. The expertise of our cardiologists and our leading-edge technology will make your visit to your nearby CVG location a positive experience. You can count on us for comprehensive heart care.

Today’s coronary calcium scans use state-of-the-art computed tomography (CT) machines. They provide highly detailed images of your heart’s arteries. These quick, painless tests help your doctor detect and prevent heart issues early.

Your doctor has recommended coronary calcification tests based on your specific health needs. By testing for coronary calcification, your doctor is proactive regarding cardiovascular health. Early detection of calcium buildup in your arteries is important so we can help you with treatment and recommend lifestyle changes to help reduce your risk of future heart problems.

By considering your risk factors and health history, your CVG cardiologist will provide individualized healthcare solutions. These actions can help alleviate your fears and ensure you receive appropriate care.

Risk Factors For Coronary Calcification

Because coronary calcium indicates the presence of coronary atherosclerosis, the same risk factors exist for each, age, tobacco, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, family history, gender (male or female after menopause) physical inactivity/obesity.

Testing For Coronary Calcification

The gold-standard test is a coronary computed tomography (CT). Because the heart continuously beats, not all CT scanners are fast enough to perform a coronary calcium score. Besides measuring the calcium content in the arteries the scan looks at other non-cardiac structures like the aorta and the lungs and is excellent screening for aneurysms, lung cancer and infections

Treatment For Coronary Calcification

To combat this disease, your doctor may recommend lifestyle changes, medications, or in severe cases, surgery. Lifestyle changes that can either prevent or slow the progression of coronary calcification include a healthy diet, increased physical activity, avoiding alcohol and tobacco, and losing weight. Your doctor may prescribe medications such as cholesterol medication, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, diuretics, and medicine to prevent or dissolve blood clots.

In late stages of coronary calcification, your doctor may suggest surgical procedures to fight the disease. These include intravascular lithotripsy, in which a catheter is attached to a device that, when inserted, sends pressure waves designed to break up the calcification. After this, a stent is inserted to keep your arteries open.

Other surgical procedures that may be done include a rotational, orbital, or laser atherectomy in order to cut out the plaque and calcium from your artery. Bypass surgeries and angioplasties may also be recommended to treat the disease

Symptoms Of Coronary Calcification

Coronary artery calcification often has no apparent symptoms in the beginning, but as more calcium builds up people may begin to experience symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, numbness in your hands or feet, a decrease in blood pressure, and even heart attacks.

Complications Of Treatment

Coronary artery calcification often has no apparent symptoms in the beginning, but the artery blocks, people may begin to experience symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, and eventually heart attacks.

Why Choose CVG?

Trust is the most important thing in a doctor-patient relationship. Add our transparent communication, and you have an unbeatable combination for your heart care. Our cardiologists’ years of experience and skill will give you peace of mind during tests, diagnosis, and treatment. We offer the most up-to-date technology and doctors who genuinely care about you. You can be sure that any CVG location in the Atlanta area will provide you with convenient, complete cardiac care.

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Board-certified Doctors

CVG’s twenty board-certified heart doctors will guide you through your healthcare journey with the utmost compassion and individual attention. We aim to provide you with state-of-the-art cardiac care that includes the full spectrum of services, from testing to diagnosis and treatment. The doctor/patient relationship is built on trust. Through our combined efforts, we can conquer any challenge that comes our way.

Invasive therapies may also treat an abnormal heart rhythm, such as electrical cardioversion, which sends electrical impulses through your chest wall and allows normal heart rhythm to restart, or catheter ablation that disconnects the abnormal rhythm’s pathway. Suppose your doctor determines that electrical devices are the best course of action. In that case, you may be given a permanent pacemaker, an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), or biventricular (B-V) pacemakers and defibrillators.

How CVG Can Help

CVG offers multiple services that can discover an enlarged heart or conditions that will lead to it. At CVG, we perform stress tests that will observe blood flow and test for various forms of heart disease. There are three types of stress tests that we perform:

A treadmill test is a test in which you will walk on a treadmill that gets faster and steeper every 3 minutes. This will stress your heart so that our nurse or doctor can determine your heart rate and blood pressure.
An echo test is performed before and after your treadmill test to determine how well your heart pumps blood.
A nuclear stress test is a treadmill test that is prefaced by an injection of medicine that shows the flow of blood to your heart.

We also offer cardiac catheterization to diagnose and treat several heart issues. If any of these tests determine a problem, we offer treatment solutions such as atrial fibrillation testing and catheter ablation. Learn more about our services here, or schedule an appointment to talk to our doctors.

Schedule Your Appointment with a CVG Atlanta Area Cardiologist

Expertise, experience, and compassion are the pillars of CVG’s patient-centered cardiac care. Please schedule your appointment with CVG today. Call (770) 962-0399 or 678-582-8586. You may also request an appointment online. If you have an emergency, don’t contact us online; please call 911.