John Osborne explains why a zero calcium score doesn't mean you're disease-free. Between 10 and 50 percent of people with zero calcium scores actually have significant soft plaque buildup. He argues doctors should treat any non-zero calcium score as pathologic, not downplay it as "low."
It's just a little glioblastoma. It's not much at all. Barely there. Well, it's the disease. Depending upon the population age studies, anywhere between 10 up to 50% of people with a zero calcium score will have significant lipid-rich plaque that a calcium score will miss. So you can have lots of false negatives. The other main thing calcium score doesn't do, whether that score is zero or not zero, and when I think of calcium scores, it's either zero or not zero. The only normal score is zero. Drives me crazy when I hear, oh, it's a low calcium score. Okay, kind of like you saying, Ravi, it's just a little glioblastoma, it's not much at all, it's barely there, right? Well, it's the disease, so I'm going to say 0 or not 0 for a calcium score. Obviously 10, 100, 1,000 is different, but 0, not 0.
