# I have an artery with a lot of plaque. What should expect to happen at the cardiologist visit? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 14, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633 "2025-06-14T15:27:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yosh99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yosh99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yosh99)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633/21 "2025-06-15T20:38:21Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Does the fact that your stress echo was normal mean you don’t have any issues with soft plaque? In my case, I think it just means that there is no significant obstruction to the flow of blood to my heart and that structurally things are normal. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633/22 "2025-06-15T20:53:24Z")
Thanks, that all makes sense. You mentioned that you are on a statin, but you stopped taking aspirin. Did your cardio recommend you stop taking aspirin? What statin are you currently on? ---
**Author:** ![Yosh99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yosh99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yosh99)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633/23 "2025-06-15T21:38:31Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Did your cardio recommend you stop taking aspirin? What statin are you currently on? The maximum dose of Crestor. I stopped the aspirin on my own because I was getting nose bleeds. One doc says that’s fine. Another says to try to get back on it. I’m going to try every other day to see how that goes. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633/24 "2025-06-15T22:34:18Z")
Thank you. I was just wondering about the aspirin. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633/25 "2025-06-15T22:49:05Z")
My cardiologist told me to stop taking daily low-dose aspirin some years ago. Taking low-dose aspirin may or may not be a good idea for the typical non-cardiac patient, and I was even on it for a couple of years after the PCI when post-procedure risks are highest, along with a blood thinner and BP medication. But my cardiologist later deemed that with my continuing regimen of blood thinners, aspirin was no longer indicated. For those not under any specific treatment or medication, regular low-dose aspirin as a potential mitigation against a heart attack is controversial, I think mainly because it may have adverse effects elsewhere that outweigh its tiny potential cardiac benefits. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633/26 "2025-06-15T22:53:32Z")
Have you had an echocardiogram recently? If not they will probably schedule you for one. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633/27 "2025-06-15T23:07:45Z")
I’ve never had one done. I expect my cardiologist to recommend getting one at my first visit. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633/28 "2025-06-16T19:50:18Z")
So is there specific significance to the location of the Left Anterior Descending Artery? Does that impact the score or have any of specific implications? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633/29 "2025-06-16T21:29:37Z")
LAD disease, while not quite as severe a harbinger of doom as Left Main disease, is associated with more frequent and larger infarcts than more distal left sided disease or RCA disease. And I have read that the calcifications found in LAD lesions are less reassuring about non-rupture of the plaque down the road than those calcifications else elsewhere distal to the LAD, or in the RCA. That is, LAD calcification is less likely to indicate plaque stability. I’ve tried to tease out exactly how the score is calculated, and it does seem the score can be higher if the location of calcification is at a higher risk site like in the LAD. But keep in mind that, while I’ve spent a LOT of time in the cath lab, in the last 30 years most of it was as a patient, not a practitioner. ;-D ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633/30 "2025-06-16T23:00:17Z")
😀 Still orders of magnitude more knowledge than I have! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633/31 "2025-06-16T23:08:28Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > ’ve never had one done. I expect my cardiologist to recommend getting one at my first visit. It is just a sonogram or untrasound like pregnate women get. Lay on a table while they can view a picture of your heart while it is operating. ---
**Author:** ![Yosh99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yosh99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yosh99)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633/32 "2025-06-16T23:15:30Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > It is just a sonogram or untrasound like pregnate women get. Lay on a table while they can view a picture of your heart while it is operating. They’ll probably do a resting echogram, then have the patient get on a treadmill and work to exhaustion, then immediately get back on the table and re-do the echo while the heart is pounding. The value of the test is in the comparison of the two states. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-an-artery-with-a-lot-of-plaque-what-should-expect-to-happen-at-the-cardiologist-visit/1019633.md?page=1)