UH free calcium score test

Does heart disease run in your family? Do you have high cholesterol? Are you a smoker or have Type 2 diabetes? All of these things put you at higher risk for a heart attack.
By the time you finish this article, someone in America will have had one.
It's called a calcium score test and it gives you answers, literally in black and white. It measures the amount of calcium that has accumulated in the walls of the coronary arteries.
It's a computerized tomography scan (CT scan) which is a type of imaging that uses X-ray techniques to create detailed images of the body. It’s not magnetic, like an MRI, but it does involve a low dose of radiation.
A technician places several small, sticky nodes on your chest and connects them to wires. The scan itself only takes a few minutes in a CT machine.
Testing at a younger age may be indicated in certain situations.
The drawback, it's rarely covered by insurance and out of pocket costs can range between $400-$800.
However if you live in Northeast Ohio, you may be able to get one for free. University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute offers this test at no cost.
Anyone (an existing UH patient or a patient coming from an outside hospital) can have the test done at no cost if they have an order from a physician.
Who needs this scan?
If you're 45 or older, and have one or more risk factors for heart disease, your doctor may suggest getting the test.
Risk factors include:
High blood cholesterol
Low HDL cholesterol (“good cholesterol”)
High blood pressure
Smoke cigarettes
Type 2 diabetes
Family history of heart disease at age 55 or younger in men and 65 or younger in women
Chronic inflammatory condition (e.g., inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis, HIV/AIDS)
Female conditions such as preeclampsia or early menopause (younger than 40)
Chronic kidney disease
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