ABSTRACT
Coronary artery calcium (CAC) is intimately associated
with coronary atherosclerosis. As outlined in detail in
chapters 8 to 10, CAC predicts the overall extent and sever-
ity of atherosclerotic plaque formation in the coronary arter-
ies, whether measured at autopsy1,2 or in the living patient
by using invasive coronary angiography3-6 or intravascular
ultrasound.7-8 It has also been demonstrated that patients
with more advanced CAC have more frequent and severe
stress-induced myocardial ischemia as determined by
single-photon emission computed tomography.9,10 Finally,
patients with greater amounts of CAC have consistently
been reported to carry an increased cardiovascular event
risk.11-13 All these relationships have been analyzed using
CAC measurements in a cross-sectional manner. Much less
is known about the progression of CAC over time.
