Dr Mark Kennedy - Private Internal Medicine Specialist

Postal Address

Dr Mark Kennedy
Western Hills Clinic
74 Western Hills Drive
Kensington
Whangarei 0112

Contact Details

Phone (09) 435 4627, or if URGENT, Linda Clinical Nurse Specialist 021 689 447 outside of clinic hours
Mobile Emergency Phone (021) 702 395
Email admin@westernhillsclinic.co.nz
Healthlink EDI: west74hc

For any urgent Echocardiogram, Exercise Stress Echocardiogram or Exercise Tolerance Test, contact  Clinical Nurse Specialist (Linda) on (09) 435 4627 on Tuesday and Thursday (or 021 689 447 outside those days).  If she is unavailable and it is URGENT, call Mark Kennedy on (021) 702 395. We can undertake Transthoracic Echocardiograms most weekdays. 

Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring

Patient information:

Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring (CACS) is a method to image and quantify calcification within the coronary arteries.  It looks for signs of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) due to the build-up of calcium inside fatty deposits (or atherosclerosis, also called plaque) in the coronary arteries. 

 

This technique involves the use of an ECG-gated CT scan and does not require any medicines or intravenous x-ray contrast (dye).  

 

With a few breath holds, images of the coronary arteries are taken. Using sophisticated software, the amount of calcium in your coronary arteries from the images is measured, and a score (CAC Score) is calculated from the amount of calcium present.  The calcium score is then compared to a reference range for the population of your age and gender, giving a relative risk of developing symptoms of coronary artery disease compared to that of the rest of the population. 

 

CACS does not replace functional testing like Exercise Stress Echocardiography, Exercise Tolerance Test or invasive coronary angiography.  It stratifies the risk of coronary disease and this can help with the management of coronary artery risk factors.


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