How to Prepare for a Heart Scan

A heart scan gives your doctor a view into the health of your hardest-working muscle by measuring the amount of calcium in the arteries feeding your heart. Also known as a coronary calcium scan, a heart scan uses a painless, quick and noninvasive electronic beam to examine the walls of your arteries for calcium inside plaque deposits. A high amount of calcium in your arteries could hint at atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), which could put you at risk for a heart attack. Talk to your doctor before having this procedure as not all patients benefit from or qualify to have a heart scan.

Things You'll Need

• Physician's visit

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Instructions

• 1

  Visit your doctor for a complete physical before your heart scan.

• 2

  Provide your physician with your medical history and any record of heart disease in your immediate family.

• 3

  Answer your doctor's questions about lifestyle factors which could put you at risk for atherosclerosis. Inform your doctor how much or if you smoke or exercise.

• 4

  Provide blood for your doctor to run cholesterol screenings and other blood tests to determine your risk factors which she uses to assess whether you need a heart scan and how to interpret the results. Do not worry about additional precautions before the test as this noninvasive, quick procedure does not require it.

• 5

  Change into a hospital gown if asked by the coronary calcium scan technician, but many sites do not require this.

• 6

  Lie on the computerized tomography (CT) scanner table, and carefully follow instructions during the test about lying still and when to hold your breath.

• 7

  Go home or back to work immediately after the test, but make an appointment to discuss the results.