Naked Heart: Calcium Scoring

The Naked Heart comprises a collection of simple explanations and illustrations used by the author in his every day medical practice to explain common heart conditions. It is a pioneering initiative designed to help people who have received a diagnosis or who are considering specialist consultation or screening testing, to make informed decisions.

Health screening for heart disease in general is not held in high regard by healthcare professionals as it is often contracted out to private companies where there tends to be a ‘one size fits all’ approach and a perhaps over-inflated opinion about the predictive powers of stress testing. This chapter on Coronary Scoring aims to help adjust the balance by focusing on why heart screening should be considered in those that may benefit the most. It provides people who have health concerns with enough information to make an informed decision about having themselves checked over, without necessarily having a formal specialist consultation.

These manuals are also designed to help patients get involved in ‘smarter medicine’: fewer low risk patients should need to actually visit a specialist; instead it should be possible to read around a subject written by an expert, select and undergo a screening test where appropriate and then if questions arise, obtain relatively low-cost expert advice by phone. It is hoped this new approach will convince more people to find out whether they or their family have early signs of heart disease so that it can treated/prevented more effectively.

For people with coronary artery disease, by waiting until symptoms occur, preventative measures will be less effective and it is all to often the case that even the best medical care provides ‘too little too late’