CardioAdvocate

CAC

By: Updated
Coronary Artery Calcium

Deep Dive

Going into detail on what this term means and how it relates to health guidelines. This article may be incomplete.

Coronary Artery Calcium score or CT scan (also frequently referred to as EBT, which stands for electron beam tomography, which is older terminology and technology) for evaluating degree of coronary atherosclerosis by way of coronary artery calcification. The calcified component roughly represents about 20% of the overall plaque volume. It is easily visible on a CT scan (fancy X-ray) due to his higher density. It would not be present if it were not for the inflamed plaquing that lies adjacent to it. It is not necessarily the target of therapy, per se. Rather the inflamed necrotic, lower density substance of the plaque is the target of Lipitor and therapy.


← Back to Glossary