Three heart tests worth asking about at your next checkup
New guidelines recommend broader testing and say cholesterol management should start decades earlier than most of us assumed. Good to know before your next cholesterol test High cholesterol contributes to roughly 4.4 million deaths worldwide each year. But the latest AHA and ACC guidelines suggest that the standard cholesterol test most of us rely on may not tell the whole story . The updated recommendations call for 3 additional tests that go beyond the familiar LDL number. A coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan detects plaque already forming in your arteries. An apolipoprotein B (ApoB) test counts the actual artery-clogging particles in your blood, giving a more precise measure than LDL alone. And then there's lipoprotein(a) , or Lp(a), a particularly adhesive form of cholesterol that doesn't respond to diet or exercise. "Lp(a) is a one-time blood test that checks for ...
