Scientific Evidence for EBTWhen heart disease treatment is focused on patients who already have symptoms, doctors are delivering “sick care,” not health care. To effectively treat heart disease, we need a way to identify patients who are asymptomatic but are already in the early stages of the disease. In a study of more than 25,000 individuals with no symptoms of heart disease, almost one quarter had coronary calcium scores greater than 100. Elevated coronary calcium correlated strongly with increased mortality – up to a 12-fold higher risk over seven years. Over the past 20 years, research has demonstrated that EBT is the most accurate way to detect and measure coronary artery calcium. As a result, EBT is the only technology approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for early detection of heart disease. The American Heart Association, in a Scientific Statement, reaffirmed EBT as the reference standard for measurement of calcified coronary plaque. In July 2006, the SHAPE Task Force – a group of the nation’s leading cardiologists – recommended that men between 45 and 75, and women between 55 and 75, be screened for subclinical atherosclerosis. The Task Force predicts that such screening could save 90,000 lives a year and avoid more than $21.5 billion in treatment costs for heart disease. The SHAPE Guideline has been endorsed by many cardiologists in the Puget Sound region. |
The risk of death from heart disease increases in direct proportion to the amount of coronary calcium. |