And thanks to a high-tech crystal ball of sorts for the arteries, the Marlboro Township trustee now has some answers. Held is among a small but growing number of people who are paying to have their heart or even their entire body scanned by high-tech equipment to detect potential medical problems before they ever have any symptoms. Locally, Ohio Heart-Akron in Fairlawn is targeting people such as Held who are concerned about their hearts by offering scans of the vital organ and its surrounding arteries. Rumberger, a former Mayo Clinic cardiologist, has been studying and promoting the use of heart scans to detect the risk for heart problems for 17 years. He and other supporters say heart scans could someday become another standard screening tool for early identification of coronary artery disease.
Traditional scanners give blurred pictures of the heart because the organ is constantly in motion.
Plaque appears early in the disease process, before the artery is even blocked, Tobias explained. Eventually, the plaque can get thicker and narrow the artery or rupture, causing a heart attack. A stress test, one of the most commonly used tools for diagnosing coronary artery disease, typically won't detect artery blockages of less than 50 percent, Tobias said. Studies have shown that more than half of all heart attacks happen to people with less than 50 percent blockage. That's exactly what Held has done.