Scans are one of the most important tools that healthcare professionals need to look for problems that are going on inside the body. These organs can be the heart, lungs, liver, etc. As we know, without any of these organs, it is very hard for a person to live a normal life, and it decreases the quality of life to a great extent. The heart is one of the most important organs, and with a diseased heart, it can be very hard for a person to do normal chores or live a normal life, and the person can be in bed for a lot of time.
Heart health can be checked through a lot of tests and scans that can tell about the overall health of the heart. One such scan is the CT angiogram, which is a variation of the standard CT scan. In such scans, blood vessels of the heart are visualized, and detailed pictures are created, allowing for a thorough examination of the vessels. This scan can be used to detect coronary artery disease, an embolism, or any type of stroke. In this article, we’ll talk about this scan in detail and know how it works and its accuracy and procedure.
Heart and its functions:
The heart can be considered one of the most important organs of the human body because of the important role it plays in the life of a person. The main function of the heart is to take the oxygenated blood from the lungs and pump it into the body as the body cells require oxygen for their proper function and as nutrition.
Moreover, the Heart also takes the deoxygenated blood that is filled up with carbon dioxide from the body cells to the lungs for their excretion. Hence, it plays an essential role in the health of a person, and with a malfunctioning heart, it would be really hard for a person to live a normal life.
Coronary artery disease:
Coronary arteries are the heart’s arteries, and their role is to provide oxygenated blood to the body’s tissues and cells, which require oxygen to operate normally. A coronary artery is considered dysfunctional if it narrows as a result of vascular occlusion and its function is affected. There might be several reasons for such blockages, including high cholesterol, hypertension, smoking, diabetes, an unhealthy diet, and so forth.
CT Angiogram:
A computed tomography angiography or a virtual angiogram is a variation of the standard CT scan. In such scans, a dye is injected into the blood vessels to highlight the blood, and detailed pictures are created, allowing for a thorough examination of the vessels. This scan can be used to detect coronary artery disease, an embolism, or any type of stroke. Most people think that a CT scan and an angiogram are the same thing, but it’s not. There is a lot of difference in both these tests, including the procedure and their findings.
A CT scan uses X-rays to make cross-sectional scans of the body, providing a comprehensive view of the body’s components. A CT scan that exclusively examines the blood arteries throughout the body is known as a CT Angiogram. In the angiography kind of CT scan, a dye is injected into the blood arteries, highlighting them for study. A CT angiogram costs between $500-$10000.
Findings of a CT angiogram:
A coronary artery blockage is similar to a stenosis, which occurs when the lumen constricts or narrows. Angiograms can show both calcium and non-calcium deposits. Furthermore, in extreme cases, the artery may become entirely blocked. Blockages in the cardiac arteries can impair the heart’s ability to provide oxygen to various body areas as well as excrete carbon dioxide from the cells to the lungs, where it is evacuated to the outside environment.
How accurate is a CTA of the heart?
The overall accuracy of this scan is very high, and it can detect a lot of coronary artery problems very accurately. One of the main problems that is related to the heart is coronary artery disease, which can be detected through this scan very efficiently. It is better to use the preventive measure strategy when it comes to the heart because it is easy to prevent such problems instead of treating them when your heart is diseased.
How much time does a scan take?
A CT angiogram can take up to 20 minutes to an hour, and it is dependent on several factors. The procedure itself is very short, but the time taken to explain the procedure, the setup of the patient, and positioning the patient correctly can really lengthen the time because if the position is not perfect, the scan can have an error in its results.
Moreover, it also depends on the equipment used by the scanning services. If they are using the old equipment, it can take more time than usual. Hence, people are actively searching for scanning services by browsing angiograms near me so that they can get done with this procedure as soon as possible. One of the well-known scanning centers in Irving, Texas, is ViaScan at Las Colinas. They are known for their exceptional testing facilities in all of Texas.