Coronary Artery Calcium Testing

Coronary Artery Calcium Testing Accurately Predicts Low Incidence of Cardiovascular Disease In Patients with Moderate To High Calculated ASCVD Score

SGIM EBM Task Force

March 2018

The Bottom Line

Coronary artery calcium scoring can help to better risk stratify patients at high calculated risk for ASCVD. Because patients with CAC scores of 0 had event rates significantly lower than predicted by ASCVD scoring alone, it may be possible to use CAC scoring to limit overtreatment with statin medications. However, the net benefit of excluding this population from statin therapy should be evaluated in a randomized controlled trial prior to widespread adoption.

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