Coronary artery calcium score & coronary vascular Disease

 Ref

. 2021 Dec 3;13(12):e20149. doi: 10.7759/cureus.20149

Coronary Artery Calcium Score - A Reliable Indicator of Coronary Artery Disease?

Devarashetty Shreya ^1,✉, Diana I Zamora ², Gautami S Patel ³, Idan Grossmann ⁴, Kevin Rodriguez ⁵, Mridul Soni ⁶, Pranay K Joshi ⁷, Saawan C Patel ³, Ibrahim Sange ^8,9

Editors: Alexander Muacevic, John R Adler

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is caused by 

atheromatous blockage of coronary vessels leading to

 acute coronary events that usually occur when a plaque

 ruptures and a thrombus forms. CAD is a known cause

 of significant cardiovascular events, accounting for

 more than 50% of the deaths in western countries,

 and most of the patients with CAD remain asymptomatic.

 The coronary artery calcium (CAC) score has been created

 as a measure of coronary atherosclerosis. This article

 has compiled various studies that conclude the 

clinical relationship between coronary artery calcium

 and the development of cardiovascular (CV) events by

 using the CAC score as a reliable indicator of CAD.

 This article has reviewed the pathophysiology and 

risk factors of CAD, along with various methods of

 CAC scoring. It also underlined the reliability of CAC

 scoring for early detection of CAD in asymptomatic individuals

. We emphasized the importance of age-dependent

 risk factor analysis combined with practical screening

 tools like CAC scoring for early diagnosis of CAD

 can help direct the treatment and prevent deaths 

in asymptomatic individuals.

 Coronary artery calcium score and coronary vascular Disease

Asymptomatic individuals with no associated risk factors and a calcium score of zero are highly unlikely to have any significant luminal obstruction or atheromatous plaque. They are also at very low risk of any cardiovascular events within the next two to five years [32]. Positive (non-zero) CAC scores, on the other hand, indicate the existence of coronary atherosclerotic plaque, and rising values are linked to increased coronary heart disease (CHD) risk (Figure 3) [33].

Figure 3. Coronary artery calcium scoring and coronary vascular disease.