The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has funded a research project that could improve how doctors predict a person’s risk of heart attack. People experiencing chest pain are often given a calcium CT score – a standard test that shows the amount of calcified or hardened plaques building up in the arteries.
The score is used to assess the likelihood that the pain is caused by CHD. However, this test cannot show the difference between calcium that has been in the arteries for some time and calcium that is actively building up. Scientists have, for the first time, combined positron emission tomography (PET) and computerised tomography (CT) to look at the processes in coronary heart disease (CHD) that lead to a heart attack. The research has demonstrated the potential of using PET and CT scanning to look directly into the walls of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. Over 100 people were given a calcium CT score. They then used specialist PET scans to show areas where calcium was building up. It is thought that arteries with active calcium build-up may be those with plaques more likely to cause a heart attack.
