Coronary CT Angiography (CTA)

Coronary 64-Slice CT Angiography… A non-invasive examination for evaluating patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease

Fast, Painless Exams to Catch Heart Disease Early

Body Imaging Radiology offers state-of-the-art Coronary CT Angiograhy (Coronary CTA), one of the most comprehensive non-invasive cardiac examinations available.  Our Siemens sensation 64-slice scanner provides rapid, high-resolution scanning of the heart and coronary arteries displayed in a dynamic 3-dimensional view.  This allows for the diagnosis of the earliest possible evidence of coronary artery disease, often before stress testing, EKG and nuclear cardiology exam results are abnormal.

Heart Attack Prevention

Coronary heart disease is the number one killer of men and women in the U.S.  In 48% of women and 63% of men who die suddenly of coronary artery disease, there were no previous symptoms of this disease.  Patients with risk factors for heart disease can benefit from accurate assessment of coronary artery disease before they become symptomatic.

Advantages of Coronary CTA

Coronary CTA is a safe, non-invasive method of evaluating not only the presence of coronary artery narrowing, but also the presence of soft plaques, not detected by coronary angiography, which are most likely to cause heart attacks and sudden death.  It is a valuable tool to detect early disease in patients with cardiac risk factors in a safe, accurate and rapid way.  In patients that have suspected coronary artery disease with a normal Coronary CTA, the negative predictive value is close to 100%, so catheterization can be avoided.

Who benefits from non-invasive Coronary CTA?

• Asymptomatic patients with one or more of the following risk factors:

Men over age 45 Women over age 55 High LDL Cholesterol Smoking Overweight/obesity Physical inactivity-Sedentary lifestyle

Family history of heart disease High blood pressure Low HDL Cholesterol High-stress lifestyle Diabetes

• Patients with atypical symptoms (such as chest pain unrelated to physical exertion) but with a low to moderate risk profile of heart disease
• Patients with equivocal stress-test results
• Patients with unexplained congestive heart failure or cardiomyopathy
• Patients who have undergone revascularization procedures such as stenting and bypass-grafting
• Patients who require functional cardiac analysis of wall motion and valve function

(Patients with intra-cardiac devices such as pacemakers or defibrillators are not candidates for Cardiac CTA.)