'Mammogram for the heart' predicts attacks
A new technology can accurately predict when a heart attack could happen, and it’s already saving lives.
"I describe this as a mammogram for the heart,” Cardiologist Dr Con Aroney said.
The new technology is a coronary calcium-scoring test where the best score is zero.
"When someone has score a zero I tell them to go home and drink a glass of champagne,” Dr Aroney said.
Lachlan Madsen is 45 and at low risk of a heart attack, or so he thought.
The new CT scanner created a 2D road map of his arteries and showed
Lachlan's calcium score is 61, which is dangerous if he does not change his lifestyle.
"Without treatment he would be considered in a high risk for a heart attack in about five years time,” Dr Aroney said.
When 72-year-old Gwen Newton underwent the test last July, it was five minutes that saved her life.
"He said to me, sit down, you are a walking time bomb,” Ms Newton said.
Her calcium score was over 1600.
She had a one in four chance of dying from a heart attack within a year.
"It tells you what your biological age is and how long you are likely to live,” Dr Aroney said.
Unlike an angiogram, it requires no dye injections, the technology has low radiation and ‘extremely accurate’.
Dr Aroney says this test is a must for anyone over 45 years old because 10 per cent of people who suffer from fatal heart attacks have no cardiac risk factors.
The ten-year mapping costs $150.
The only requirement is a referral from your GP.
