Is Ultra Fast CT Scanner better?
This is a new noninvasive stress test detection of the CAD is by the electron beam computerized Tomography, known as Ultra fast CT scan. The Ultra fast CT is designed to measure the calcium deposits in the artery. In patients with CAD, the plaque, which makes up the blockage contain a significant amount of calcium, which can be detected by Ultra fast CT scan. This test will identify calcium in blockages, as minimal as 10-20%, which would not be detected by normal testing. The potential limitation of the Ultra fast CT scanner, is that the calcium score for each vessel is reported, and this is not entirely lesion specific. Several minimal blockages in a given vessel may result in a similar score in one severe blockage in a vessel. So there are so many false positives, and this should be used only for the screening purposes only, and not for the diagnostic purposes.
