What’s Your Score? How knowing your coronary calcium scan could save your life

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – More than 60 million women in the U.S. have some form of heart disease, and a lot of them don’t even know it. But, as we found out, simply knowing your score could save your life. Carol Harris knows. She’s the executive assistant to the CEO of St. Francis Hospital-Bartlett, who is usually on the go. “It’s very, very busy, you know,” she agreed.

But just last June, while on one of her jaunts through the hospital, Harris ran into the Chairman of Cardiology, Dr. Muhammad Janjua. That’s not that uncommon since they’ve worked together for the last 10 years. However, this time, the doctor noticed something off about Harris. “She told me that when she walked from her office to the cafeteria, by the time she reached there, she noticed that she was short of breath. Her heart is racing and some chest discomfort which she was not able to describe much and wheezing at the time,” said Dr. Janjua.

Harris is a relatively fit woman in her early 60’s who blamed her symptoms on an earlier bout of bronchitis and put off Dr. Janjua’s suggestion she take a stress test. “So he knew how busy I was, that I wasn’t going to take a half a day and do a stress test. He said, how about a coronary calcium score?”

After about a month of cajoling from Dr. Janjua, Harris finally agreed to take the 10-minute, non-invasive coronary calcium scan to measure calcium build-up in her coronary arteries. Her score was 676 — normal is zero. Carol changed her mind about that stress test, took it, and failed it, as well. The following day, Dr. Janjua placed two stints in her arteries. “And he was looking at the blockage, and I had 99% blockage in my main. What they call the widow maker artery, and I had 85% blockage in the other artery,” described Harris about what the doctor found in her heart. The stints worked in the short term, but within two months, Harris needed double bypass surgery. “Well, it was September the 24th when I had my surgery. On January the third, I was able to turn back to work full time,” she revealed.

Harris believes she was in the right place at the right time and is blessed to work at a hospital where a doctor spotted her symptoms on sight. Unfortunately, most women don’t have that kind of access to cardiologist which means many women have no idea that they, too, could be on the precipice of heart attack or heart failure. According to Dr. Janjua, “Their symptoms are majority of the time shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, tiredness, racing, heart rate, mild chest discomfort, a jaw pain … So … if somebody is above age 45 or above are having any risk factors including like family history, they … are they diabetic, smoking history, high blood pressure … They should do a screening.”

Dr. Janjua said the majority of hospitals have coronary calcium scoring available. He warns that any score higher than 400 is abnormal and that you should see a doctor immediately. For Harris, the whole saga has been eye-opening for her. “And so it’s a wakeup call, you know, to not have any symptoms except for a little shortness of breath that I associated with just running around. That the heart disease truly is, now I know, a silent killer in women.”

As we close out Women’s Heart Health Month and head into Women’s History Month, it’s worth repeating that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in this country.

Ask your doctor about a coronary calcium scan—also known as a calcium scan test or cardiac CT—for calcium scoring. It could save your life.

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