In June 2000, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) Consensus Panel wrote the following in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: "Coronary calcium is part of the development of atherosclerosis; …it occurs exclusively in atherosclerotic arteries and is absent in the normal vessel wall." Simply put, the presence of calcification in the epicardial coronary arteries indicates that the patient has coronary atherosclerosis.[2]
This observation is of great significance, because atherosclerotic coronary artery disease is the number 1 cause of death in the Western world. Our ability to screen for coronary artery disease and, hopefully, prevent the sequelae of myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death has traditionally depended on the assessment of atherosclerotic risk factors and on tests of coronary flow reserve.
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