Mon Health Medical Center Debuts Non-invasive Heart Imaging Test

Mon Health Medical Center recently began offering a cardiac imaging test that determines if a patient is developing coronary artery disease in less than 60 seconds.

The Cardiac Coronary Artery Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA) test helps to show plaque buildup in the coronary arteries, the blood vessels that supply the heart.

"With advanced cardiac imaging like the Cardiac CTA, our team can determine whether a patient has coronary artery disease without the patient undergoing cardiac catheterization," said Samantha Crites, Mon Health's Cardiac Imaging Specialist and Cardiologist. "The scan is performed in less than a minute with less risk and discomfort to the patient and quicker recovery time."

Plaque is made of various substances such as fat, cholesterol and calcium that deposit along the inner lining of the arteries. Plaque, which builds up over time, can reduce or in some cases completely block blood flow.

Patients undergoing a Cardiac CTA scan must receive an iodine-containing contrast material as an intravenous injection to ensure the best possible images of the heart blood vessels.

Computed tomography, more commonly known as a CT or CAT scan, is a diagnostic medical test that, like traditional x-rays, produces multiple images or pictures of the inside of the body. The cross-sectional images generated during a CT scan can be reformatted in multiple planes and can even generate three-dimensional images.

Many physicians advocate the use of a Cardiac CTA for patients who have:

• Suspected abnormal anatomy of the coronary arteries.
• Low or intermediate risk for coronary artery disease, including patients who have chest pain and normal, non-diagnostic or unclear lab and ECG results.
• Low to intermediate risk atypical chest pain in the emergency room.
• Non-acute chest pain.
• New or worsening symptoms with a previous normal stress test result.
• Unclear or inconclusive stress test results.
• New-onset heart failure with reduced heart function and low or medium risk for coronary artery disease.
• Intermediate risk of coronary artery disease before non-coronary cardiac surgery.
• Coronary artery bypass grafts.

For patients who meet one or more of the criteria, Cardiac CTA can provide important information about the presence and extent of plaque in the coronary arteries.

Your primary care physician or cardiologist will determine whether Cardiac CTA is appropriate for you.