How does the coronary calcium scan work?

MERLE MYERSON: Doing the coronary artery calcium test is actually pretty easy.

It takes about 10 to 15 minutes. [MUSIC PLAYING]

What a patient does is they go into a special room where there's a CT scanner. That's a computed tomography scanner,

CT scan as most people know it. There's a technician there to help the patient. And what they'll do is lie down on like a gurney

that slides into a donut hole. The machine has this cavern in it, but you are placed partially in it.

Your head is not covered, and you're not completely enclosed. Most people feel that it's very comfortable.

You're lying on your back. You usually have some cushioning. And you can actually hear the machine at work. You hear whirs and clinks and buzzes.

And then after about 10 minutes, 15 minutes, the scanning is complete. And what happens is, a special camera goes around your body,

taking different pictures. Some people whose heart rate is going fast may be given a medication called a beta blocker to slow

their heart rate, so you can get better images of your heart and get a better, more accurate calcium score.