Prognostic implications of absolute and relative calcium scores

Background: The continuing epidemic of cardiovascular disease underscores t he need for more effective atherosclerosis detection and prevention. In fac t, though the mortality rate decreased during the past decades, the morbidi ty rate continued to climb. The use of conventional risk factors is helpful to assess the median risk of a population, but it is unsatisfactory to est imate the actual risk of an individual patient. Modern Imaging Technologies: As a consequence, modern imaging technologies able to detect silent atherosclerotic disease have elicited a strong intere st in the medical community with the hope that they may render risk stratif ication more accurate. Technologies such as electron beam tomography (EBT) are expected to bridge the gap between the mere presence of risk factors fo r disease development and assessment of the actual individual risk of event s based on the visualization and quantification of silent disease. conclusion: The medical literature is currently pervaded by a vivacious deb ate regarding the ability of EBT to provide such information as some invest igators still hold concerns about the cost and effectiveness of a preventiv e approach driven by technology.