Technology

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Electron Beam Tomography uses a high-speed electron beam to scan the heart using extremely fast X-ray pulses, non-invasively, for the presence of calcium deposits. Calcium is a marker for plaque formation, also called atherosclerosis. By measuring the amount of calcium present in and around your coronary arteries, it can provide an accurate picture of how much plaque you have accumulated. That's important, because the more plaque you have, the more likely you are to have a heart attack. EBT is the only technology that can tell a patient if they have heart disease and how much they have all within a 96-98% accuracy (according to numerous clinical studies over the past 20 plus years).

EBT captures images at 1/20th of a second – far faster than imaging technologies such as conventional CT or MRI. Speed is critically important, because your heart is in constant motion. EBT is the only non-invasive technology that's fast enough to create a clear picture of what's happening inside your arteries.

Not all heart scans are equal...insist on an EBT.

Conventional CT (also called Multi-detector, Multi-slice, or 16 or 64 slice CT) is sometimes promoted as a heart scan alternative to EBT. It is important to know the difference, because it could affect your outcome at the high cost of excessive X-ray exposure.

The only way to be sure you'll have accurate, repeatable results, with minimal radiation exposure, is to insist on an EBT.