Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA)
Dr. Steve Parcell and NatureMed Integrative Medicine have partnered with Cleerly to provide the most detailed noninvasive analysis of coronary artery plaque available. Cleerly uses supercomputing to identify, characterize, and quantify arterial plaque. A coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) test from Cleerly has higher sensitivity and specificity compared to traditional stress tests and calcium scoring.
Heart Disease Today
Over 50% of people who will suffer a heart attack do so without experiencing any prior symptoms1 and, unfortunately, more than 70% of patients who do end up having a heart attack are also considered low risk by traditional testing2. We believe there’s a better, more personalized way to achieve heart health and avoid heart attacks.
A New Way Forward
NatureMed Clinic now offers the Cleerly coronary analysis to help you understand your personal risk of a heart attack – earlier, and with the highest precision available, before a cardiac event becomes inevitable.
What is Cleerly?
The Cleerly coronary analysis is a complete evaluation of the presence, amount, and type of plaque, the root cause of heart disease, in the heart’s arteries based on a Cardiac CT exam (CCTA). Images captured in the CCTA exam are processed by Cleerly software – a set of artificial intelligence-based algorithms – and translated into measurements and reports for your physician to review with you. The results of the Cleerly analysis give a comprehensive understanding of a patient’s current state of disease for reference in ongoing heart health and treatment.
Cleerly uses CCTA images to identify, characterize, and quantify plaque buildup. Several studies have concluded that CCTA shows coronary atherosclerosis in 41% to 53% of patients with a traditional CAC score of zero. Cleerly’s CT angiogram identifies patients at a high risk of coronary artery disease sooner and with greater detail than the traditional CAC scan. This can help physicians prevent heart attacks. Cleerly’s model outperforms stress tests alone in terms of both sensitivity (95% vs. 74%), and specificity (63% vs. 43%) for detecting stenosis (narrowing) greater than 50%.
Learn why a CCTA test is better than a stress test: Why You Should Get a Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA) Test
For more information on CCTA and Cleerly, download this guide: What to Expect with CCTA Test
If you are a current patient we can order this for you. If you are not a patient and are interested in a truly individualized preventive cardiology program, please call our front desk at 303.884.7557.
Sources:
1 2010 ACCF/AHA Guideline for Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk in Asymptomatic Adults. ⇱ Circulation. November 2010.
2 Preventing myocardial infarction in the young adult in the first place: how do the national cholesterol
education panel iii guidelines perform? ⇱ Journal of the American College of Cardiology. May 2003.
The Fallacy of the Power of Zero. JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging. June 2022.
The Western Denmark Heart Registry: Its Influence on Cardiovascular Patient Care. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. March 20, 2018.
8 Million Nuclear Stress Tests are Performed in the US. Is This Necessary? Oliver Wyman, April 8, 2019.