Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring: Now Available at Astra Healthcare
A Coronary Artery Calcium (CAC) Score is a simple, noninvasive CT scan of the heart performed without contrast. The scan is designed to quantify, on a scale that starts at 0 and may go over 1000, the risk or extent of coronary artery disease based on calcified plaque deposits in the coronary arteries.
The higher the score, the greater the risk for having a heart attack, experiencing a stroke, or dying from one of these adverse events in the next 10 years.
CAC scoring has become an important tool not only for detecting coronary artery disease, but also for guiding preventive treatment decisions, such as:
- Whether a lipid-lowering medication should be initiated
- Whether additional cardiovascular testing is needed
- Whether more aggressive risk factor modification is appropriate
Based on the American Heart Association Policy Guidance Expanding Coverage of Cardiac Computed Tomography for Calcium Scoring document from December 2025, the current indications for obtaining a CAC score are:
- Adults aged 40–75 years without diabetes (men 40 and older and women 45 and older), LDL-C 70–189 mg/dL, and 10-year ASCVD1 risk of 7.5% 19.9% (intermediate risk)
- If the decision about statin therapy is uncertain, CAC measurement can help refine risk assessment.
- Borderline risk (5%–7.5%): CAC may also be considered if ASCVD risk-enhancing factors2 are present.
The 2026 ACC/AHA/AACVPR/ABC/ACPM/ADA/AGS/APhA/ASPC/NLA/PCNA recently published Guideline on the Management of Dyslipidemia recommends that, in adults at intermediate risk and select adults at borderline risk with no prior ASCVD, if the decision regarding lipid-lowering therapy remains uncertain, a CAC score should be used for further risk stratification and to guide the decision to withhold, postpone, or initiate therapy
Calcium scoring is not recommended in patients with no heart symptoms and who have a low risk of heart attack unless they have a strong family history of premature coronary heart disease (>55 years in men, age >65 years in women)
We now offer CAC scoring at Astra Healthcare PLC. Please do not hesitate to call and make an appointment to either obtain a Cardiology consult with one of our specialists or to obtain a CAC score.
1ASCVD score: ASCVD stands for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (nonfatal heart attack, coronary heart disease death, or stroke). A score was developed to estimate the risk of ASCVD within a 10-year period among patients who have never had one of these events previously. It is used for patients between the ages of 40 and 79 years, and the score takes into account 9 variables.
2ASCVD risk-enhancing factors: These include race and genetics, conditions specific to women, lipid-related risk, concurrent high-risk medical conditions, and certain biomarkers.
