A simple heart scan that checks for calcium buildup in the arteries might do more than just help doctors predict heart attacks.
It could also help find other serious health problems—some of them even life-threatening. That’s the message from a new study done by heart experts at Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City.
This scan is called a coronary artery calcium CT scan, or CAC scan. It’s a painless and non-invasive way to see if calcium has built up inside the arteries of the heart.
Too much calcium means plaque is forming, which can block blood flow and lead to heart disease or heart attacks. Doctors use this scan to decide if someone might need medicine like statins or other treatments to prevent heart problems.
But researchers have found another surprising benefit of this scan. In a new study, they discovered that nearly one out of every ten CAC scans revealed other medical problems, not just heart-related ones.
Dr. Brent Muhlestein, a heart doctor and co-director of research at Intermountain Medical Center, explained that some of these findings might be harmless, but others could be very serious. In fact, one person in the study needed emergency surgery right after the scan showed a dangerous issue.
The study was part of a clinical trial called Intermountain CorCal. It included people who had no symptoms and were generally healthy. These people were randomly divided into two groups. One group was checked using usual methods to predict heart disease. The other group got a CAC scan.
In total, 2,284 people received the CAC scan. Out of those, 247 people—about 8.5%—had other health issues that showed up on the scan. Many of these were lung problems, but the scan also found issues in the esophagus, liver, kidneys, breasts, bones, and other parts of the heart.
The researchers presented their findings at the American Heart Association’s big 2025 conference in New Orleans. They reported that two-thirds of the people who had these extra findings were told to get more medical checkups.
Among them, 23 had something called a thoracic aortic aneurysm. That means a part of the body’s main artery, the aorta, had ballooned out and gotten too big. One patient had an aneurysm so large—8 centimeters—that it was considered an emergency. That person had surgery within a week, possibly saving their life.
Dr. Muhlestein said the results show that CAC scans might be useful not just for heart health, but also for finding other hidden health problems. Earlier research from the same team has already shown that these scans can help doctors decide who might really need statins.
Still, some questions remain. For example, it’s not clear whether every patient with an abnormal finding actually needed follow-up care. And reading these scans takes extra time for radiologists. So, it’s still not certain if these extra efforts are always worth it.
Even so, the study is promising. It suggests that CAC scans could become an even more valuable tool for preventing not just heart disease, but other serious illnesses too. More research will be needed to figure out how to use this tool in the best possible way.
In reviewing the study findings, it’s clear that CAC scans are doing more than expected. Finding hidden problems in nearly one in ten patients is no small thing. The fact that serious conditions—like life-threatening aneurysms—were discovered early means more lives could potentially be saved.
However, it’s important to balance the benefits with the cost and time involved in checking every unexpected result. In the future, doctors might decide that these scans are not just for checking heart disease risk—but also a smart way to spot other silent threats before they become deadly.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about how eating eggs can help reduce heart disease risk, and Vitamin K2 could help reduce heart disease risk.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about how to remove plaques that cause heart attacks, and results showing a new way to prevent heart attacks, strokes.
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