Per Johns Hopkins website:
CT scans may be done with or without “contrast.” Contrast refers to a substance taken by mouth or injected into an intravenous (IV) line that causes the particular organ or tissue under study to be seen more clearly. Contrast examinations may require you to fast for a certain period of time before the procedure. Your doctor will notify you of this prior to the procedure.
“A non-contrast chest CT scan, including a CTA calcium score, was performed.” - Dr. Bardack
What is a CTA?
CT angiography is a type of medical exam that combines a CT scan with an injection of a contrast media to produce pictures of blood vessels and tissues in a part of your body.
What are the reasons for a CTA?
You may need this medical test if you have an abnormality that involves the blood vessels of your brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, or other parts of your body. Doctors may use the information from this test to learn more about your condition and to decide the best way to treat you. Some reasons to have a CT angiogram include:
* To find an aneurysm (a blood vessel that has become enlarged and may be in danger of rupturing)
* To find blood vessels that have become narrowed by atherosclerosis (fatty material that forms plaques in the walls of arteries)
* To find abnormal blood vessel formations inside your brain
* To identify blood vessels damaged by injury
* find blood clots that may have formed in your leg veins and traveled into your lungs.
* To evaluate a tumor that is fed by blood vessels
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“There is no such thing as a ‘CTA calcium score’” - Dr. Wolf
Variation in atherosclerotic plaque composition according to increasing coronary artery calcium scores on computed tomography angiography. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20429033
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