Heart scans: questions to ask

ADVANCES in medicine have enabled physicians to detect heart disease earlier and to reduce the number of deaths arising from

heart attacks. This has been made possible in part by earlier detection of heart disease through the use of various technologies to scan the heart.

Scans of the heart can broadly be divided into those with and those without X-ray radiation. If the heart scan is done for a good reason and the centre has a proven track record for accuracy and uses low dose X-ray radiation, the potential benefits from the medical information obtained from the scan will far outweigh any theoretical risk resulting from the exposure to X-ray radiation.