Cardiovascular diseases pose a significant medical problem in the developed world. Coronary
heart disease (CHD) is the most common of these and is the cause of more than half the cases of
heart failure in the general population below 75 years of age. Atherosclerosis lies at the basis of
the majority of CHD cases. As the early detection of asymptomatic CHD may lower patient
morbidity and mortality, there is an ongoing search for non-invasive diagnostic techniques.
Computed tomography, which enables coronary artery calcification to be assessed, is one of
these. Examples of the implementation of a calcium score, both in asymptomatic patients and in
patients with diagnosed CHD, are presented in this paper
