Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/100763
���all the diagnostic cardiac tests, when applied properly, save lives. it���s important for physicians who don���t deal directly with heart disease to understand that. and it is even more important that patients not shy away from necessary tests that enable appropriate diagnoses. You can wreck people���s lives just as easily with a false diagnosis of coronary artery disease (cad) by causing them to live for 30 years thinking they have it. it���s important to identify and treat cad properly.��� Mazen Beshara, M.D., FACC, and Cynthia Heary, CNMT, Technical Director of Nuclear Cardiology, attend to a PET patient. ��� daniel fuleihan, m.d., facc radiation to the part of the body we scan to deliver high-quality diagnostic images. We work very hard to lower the quantity of radiation we use.��� The time saved by preloaded reference points is not only convenient for patients, but also reduces radiation dose by more than the average American is exposed to in an entire year. better arterial visualization In the past, physicians performed invasive cardiac catheterization for visualization of arterial anatomy. The Philips Brilliance CT scanner facilitates noninvasive CCTA, which allows quicker visualization in less time than previous generations of CT or MRI technologies. Dr. Fuleihan uses CCTA for patients who present with chest pain but show no other risk for coronary artery disease (CAD). ���This can be done instead of heart catheterization,��� Dr. Fuleihan says. ���Patients receive less radiation, it���s noninvasive, and it may be the safest way to find out whether or not the patient has CAD. Because patients don���t go to the hospital, CTA is much less expensive than the $4,000 to $6,000 cost of sending the patient to the cath lab.��� advanced technology for early detection To accurately project heart attack risk in the next five to 10 years, a chest CT with cardiac calcium scoring assesses and locates the amount of plaque built up within the coronary arteries. Using this information, physicians may tailor treatment according to the severity of the calcium score results. ���There are still a number of people with risk factors that are not managed aggressively enough,��� says Eugene Lozner, M.D., FACC. Eugene Lozner, M.D., FACC, reviews a CT record. ���Cholesterol levels are still too high, too many people still smoke, blood pressure levels are not well-controlled, too many people are obese, there���s a lack of exercise ��� a lot of preventable factors for heart disease exist, and calcium scoring helps identify those who may not have shown any signs of heart disease. It allows us to find these patients at earlier stages of the disease, before it has had the time to cause permanent damage.��� Even those patients exhibiting classic symptoms that may lead to heart disease may not necessarily need aggressive treatment. Problematically, Dr. Lozner explains, cholesterol level and the amount of plaque buildup do not necessarily correlate. ���People may walk around with high cholesterol levels but won���t build up plaque in their arteries and won���t need medication,��� Dr. Lozner says. ���On the other hand, two people may have the same serum cholesterol level and have different levels of plaque. This is where the calcium score will tell you whether or not the patient has plaque and needs treatment.��� To limit radiation exposure, clinicians identify points in the cardiac cycle at which the heart is at its ���quietest��� ��� split-second intervals immediately before and after the heart fills with blood and pumps it through the body, when the heart is most full and mdNewS.com ��� MD News Central New York |9