Another Brush With The Ultra Fast CT Scan!

In a post some months ago I was sharing some of my new found knowledge about ultra fast CT scans and their viability and dependability in detecting clogged arteries in the heart. Just to refresh a bit, the ultra fast CT scan hangs it’s hat on the ability to detect calcification in the veins and arteries.

The problem has been that the heavily marketed test
doesn’t seem to be as accurate as it’s wealthy marketers would like everyone to believe. The life insurance case I was working on at the time involved a person who had a very high calcification score, but after a complete cardiac workup including a catheritization, he was given a clean bill of health. The score was high but there was no clogging of the arteries happening.

That was kind of the big rub. The test is touted as a non invasive procedure to detect coronary artery disease, but its’ inherent inaccuracy leads to invasive procedures to determine if the results were accurate. Dr Joseph Mercola kind of summed up one view of this whole thing on his website, www.mercola.com, like this. “Every time a new non-invasive heart test is invented, it is hailed as bringing us one step closer to the day when invasive tests will no longer be necessary. And yet, as time goes by and the new non-invasive test comes into common use, more and more invasive tests end up being performed. This is not a mysterious or inexplicable result. It is entirely predictable.

So now I am working with a client who has high cholesterol and LDL rates and has an ultra fast CT scan result that has a calcification score of 0. Nada! I shopped this for him, and the companies that ripped the other client up due to his high score, refused to give any credit to this poor fellow with a score of 0. Not too surprising, the one company that discounted the impact of the first guy’s high score, gave this client credit for his low score. A thinking underwriting team. Keep those people on the payroll!

Bottom line. The test still hasn’t been scored when it comes to ultra fast CT scans. Before plopping down the hundreds it takes to get one you really should do some homework.