Ultrasound Heart Screening
80% of strokes can be prevented!
Min-Sheng General Hospital offers a series of simple screenings using ultrasound technology to look for plaque buildup (arthrosclerosis) in your arteries, and assess your risk of stroke, aneurysms and heart disease.
The non-invasive screenings are painless, take less than one hour to complete, and are particularly recommended if you’re over the age of 50.
Should a life-threatening condition be found, we will notify you immediately so that provisions can be made for treatment. Otherwise, the results will be read by a cardiologist and a report mailed to you within 21 days.
This package offers the following screenings:
- Stroke/carotid Artery Screening
- Heart Rhythm Screening (Atrial Fibrillation)
- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening
- Peripheral Arterial Disease Screening
Coronary Calcium Scoring
A Coronary Calcium Scoring, also called Coronary Calcium Scan, uses a computed tomography (CT scan) to check for the buildup of calcium in plaque on the coronary arteries (the arteries of the heart). These arteries supply blood to the heart and normally do not contain calcium. The presence of Calcium in the coronary arteries is a sign of coronary artery disease (CAD). A Coronary Calcium Scoring is thus a test used to check for heart disease in an early stage and to determine how severe it is.
A Coronary Calcium Scoring might be most helpful for people who have no symptoms but who are at medium risk for heart disease. Medium risk means that you have a 10% to 20% chance of having a heart attack in the next 10 years, based on your risk factors. Your age, gender, whether you smoke, your systolic blood pressures, and your levels of HDL and Total Cholesterol, are factors that influence your risk of heart disease. A routine blood test and a visit to your doctor is all it takes to know if your current risks of heart disease. A Coronary Calcium Scoring is not advised for routine screening for coronary artery disease.
There is no need for you to undergo a Coronary Calcium Scoring if you don't have any risk factors for heart disease, or if you are at high risk of heart disease because then you should already be under treatment.
Coronary CT Angiography (CTA)
A Coronary CT Angiography uses a CT scanner which sends X-ray pulses through the body. Each pulse lasts less than a second and takes a picture of a thin slice of your heart, and of the blood vessels connected to it. The pictures are saved on a computer where they are assembled to make a high-resolution, 3-D representation of your heart. An iodine dye (contrast material) is used to make the structure of the organ easier to see on the CT pictures, to check blood flow, find tumors, and look for other problems.
A Coronary CTA can help determine if either fatty or calcium deposits (plaques) have built up in the coronary arteries; this could lead to a coronary blockage, particularly in individuals that may be at risk, such as those with a family history of cardiac disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, smokers, and/or those with elevated cholesterol.
A coronary CTA is non-invasive, and can therefore be performed much faster than a cardiac catheterization (or coronary angiogram), with potentially less risk and discomfort to the patient, as well as less recovery time.