Isn Treadmill Testing the Way to Detect Early Atherosclerosis?
The traditional method to detect blockages is by an exercise treadmill test or similar, which looks for advanced blockages and can only reliably detect disease at advanced stages. Tests like the stress electrocardiogram (also known as treadmill tests) or thallium stress tests or echocardiograms can only detect blockages of 50% or more. Coronary Artery Scanning has the unique ability to detect and quantify minute amounts of calcified plaque in the major coronary arteries, which are the cause of most attacks. Minor blockages can rupture suddenly, causing complete blockage. These minor blockages would have been missed by the traditional tests. By looking at coronary anatomy and not function, we have the opportunity to detect and measure plaque accumulation from the point at which the very first speck of calcium is deposited in your arteries. Typically, this is many, many years before high grade blockages can occur.
