NRHS Offers $35 Scan That Can Detect Heart Risks

February is recognized as American Heart Month across the nation, a time to check in on our cardiovascular health.

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in Oklahoma, but research indicates 85 percent of sudden heart attacks may be prevented through heart imaging for early diagnosis and treatment. That’s easy with cardiac scoring, a noninvasive heart scan that measures calcium content in your coronary arteries. It is ten times better predictor of coronary episodes than simply a cholesterol screening.

Norman Regional offers a heart scan for $35 with no physician referral needed. If the scan finds anything abnormal, Norman Regional offers a variety of heart care options. We spoke with Norman Regional’s Archana Gautam, MD, a board certified in Cardiovascular Disease, Internal Medicine, Cardiac CT Angiography, Echocardiography, and Nuclear Cardiology about risk factors and prevention for heart disease.

She shares the best way to be able to find any potential heart issues is through consistent check-ups with your primary care physician. But, there are also screening tools that are available, without doctor’s orders, which can be a detection tool for heart disease.

Dr. Gautam shares, “A heart scan is a specialized X -ray done through CT scan is a good test to get an idea about risk of heart disease in an individual. And if someone has a risk factor for heart disease, such as family history of early heart disease, and when we say early heart disease meaning a heart attack, needed a stent or they were diagnosed with a blockage in the heart in men older than 55 years and women older than 65 years of age.” Dr. Gautam continued, “Those are the people at higher risk of developing heart disease and also they have to look at their own factors, like do they have a history of smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis or any inflammatory diseases. At age 40, is when they should start thinking about it.”

She explained that the scan shows you if there is a cholesterol build-up in coronary arteries of the heart.. “Basically what it tells you, is that once the cholesterol starts to get deposited in the heart, then over time it turns into a calcium. So, if we see calcium in the heart, it’s telling you that the process of cholesterol deposition in the heart has started. This is a time to get more vigilant and change lifestyle modifications and start discussing with your doctors.”

She continued, “Once you have a positive scan, and when we say a positive scan, zero is normal. Even if your score is one or two, definitely you should visit your doctor and discuss with them.”

When asked why she thought heart disease was such a prominent health issue effecting Oklahomans, Dr. Gautam responded, “Its smoking, diabetes, uncontrolled high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity. BMI (Body Mass Index) should be between 18 and 25. A high BMI puts you at higher risk for cardiovascular disease. Oklahoma has high obesity, smoking, lower level of exercise. Oklahoma’s exercise level is low compare to the rest of the nation.. So, all those things are contributing to higher cardiovascular disease in Oklahoma.”

Dr. Gautam continued, “When the CDC looked in 2017, 26 percent of the deaths in Oklahoma was from cardiovascular disease. It indicates that our risk factors are high here in Oklahoma.”

And if someone is having struggles in all of those areas, if they're smoker, if they're having obesity problems, if they are more sedentary than they should be and they really don't know where to start, Dr. Gautam recommends small, incremental changes.