Cleerly Scan
A Cleerly-enabled CCTA (CT Coronary Angiogram) utilizes AI enabled software to help characterize the coronary plaque composition sing the quality of the plaque matters in determining who is more likely to suffer from a cardiac event such as a heart attack
Non-calcified “fatty” plaque is a strong predictor of heart attack risk and this type of plaque is missed on a CT Coronary Artery Calcium scan (CAC)
This novel scan is a game changer in helping to manage coronary atherosclerosis
This test is “Proactive NOT Reactive” and is best used in intermediate risk patients
If patient are having symptoms such as chest pain/pressure, shortness of breath, fatigue, or exercise intolerance they will generally get referred for a stress test for further evaluation
A stress test is not the best test to assess if you have plaque in your coronary arteries
Generally by the time you “fail” a stress test you have at least a 70% stenosis (blockage) in your artery. This is pretty late in the game! Also a sobering fact is that nearly half of people presenting to the hospital having a heart attack had no symptoms prior to the heart attack
The Cleerly team recently published a paper in the Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography that proposed a a four-stage system for the disease burden of atherosclerotic plaque
Total Plaque Volume (TPV) and Percent Atheroma Volume (PAV) are the two main metrics
Stage 0 (No Plaque): TPV (0) and PAV (0)
Stage 1 (Mild Plaque): TPV (Greater than 0-250) and PAV (Greater than 0-5%)
Stage 2 (Moderate Plaque): TPV (Greater than 250-750) and PAV (Greater than 5-15%)
Stage 3 (Severe Plaque): TPV (Greater than 750) and PAV (Greater than 15%)
The quantification of coronary artery disease burden and plaque type has demonstrated to be the strongest predictor of future risk of Major Adverse Cardiac Events (MACE). The atherosclerotic plaque burden also strongly correlates to the degree of stenosis as well as ischemia as documented by FFR during invasive coronary angiography
If you are interested in learning more about my experience with having the test or are considering getting a scan yourself, then check out my site below for more details. You can also send me a DM with the word “Cleerly” and I will get in touch with you
drtwyman.com/cleerly
#cleerly #cleerlyhealth #ccta #cac #atherosclerosis #plaque
15 сен 2024
