According to the American Heart Association, heart disease consistently ranks as the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for over 900,000 fatalities annually.1 Coronary artery disease, or CAD, is a common and serious heart condition that affects blood flow to the heart. Here’s a quick look at how it develops, what causes it, and why catching it early is crucial.
How Coronary Artery Disease Develops
Coronary artery disease develops when plaque—a buildup of cholesterol, fats, and other substances—accumulates in the walls of your heart’s arteries, which supply blood to your heart. This condition, known as atherosclerosis, typically develops slowly and silently over many years, often without noticeable symptoms. As the plaque builds up, it narrows and hardens the arteries, reducing blood flow to the heart, which can eventually lead to chest pain, heart attacks, or other serious heart conditions.2
Why is Coronary Artery Disease Dangerous?
As plaque builds up in the arteries, it can harden and narrow them (a condition called stenosis). This can reduce blood flow, increasing the risk of chest pain, shortness of breath, heart attacks and potentially life-threatening complications.
It’s often assumed that heart attacks only occur when a blockage is severe or blood flow is reduced (a condition called ischemia). However, more than 75% of plaques leading to heart attacks only cause mild stenosis.5
Research indicates that the presence of high-risk soft heart plaque is the most accurate predictor of fatal heart attacks.6 Soft plaques have an unstable core and are prone to rupturing. When a plaque ruptures, the contents of the plaque spill into the bloodstream, triggering the formation of a blood clot that can block the artery. If the artery becomes completely blocked, it disrupts blood flow and causes a heart attack.
Cleerly is a tool that interprets images of the heart and detects plaque in the arteries. It uses advanced machine learning to find indicators of blockages and reduced blood flow to the heart. Before you can have a Cleerly analysis, your healthcare provider will refer you to get a coronary computed tomography angiography, also called a CCTA.
A CCTA is a non-invasive imaging test. Like X-rays, a CCTA produces multiple images or pictures of the inside of the body. Clinical guidelines indicate that CCTA is an accurate method for quantifying and assessing coronary plaque, and it’s widely recommended for evaluating suspected heart disease.8,9,10
Traditionally, clinical readers, such as radiologists, would interpret images manually, but they are not as accurate as AI-based methods for stenosis detection or quantifying how much plaque is present. Cleerly streamlines the process of reading a CCTA and has an accuracy rate superior to most advanced clinical readers.11 Your healthcare provider will always review and approve your Cleerly analysis results before sharing them with you. They will consider these results and results from other available tools, as Cleerly analysis is one of many tools your healthcare provider may use to form a comprehensive diagnosis.
 
Types of Plaque |
 
Plaque Volume |
 
Stenosis (Narrowing) |
 
Ischemia (Reduced Blood Flow) |
How Cleerly is Different
Currently, many healthcare providers rely on blood tests, non-invasive diagnostic tests, such as a coronary artery calcium score and stress testing, and family medical history to identify if a person is at risk of heart attack. Unfortunately, these disease detection methods do not truly measure the heart’s current disease state. In fact, 70% of heart attack victims are considered low-risk by these traditional methods of assessing heart disease.17
Cleerly uses machine learning trained on millions of patient images not just to detect plaque, but also quantify its type, volume, and location. This gives healthcare providers a comprehensive view of hardened and soft plaque, blockages, and the likelihood of reduced blood flow. Early detection of significant plaque enables healthcare providers to take proactive measures to prevent potential heart attacks.
How Does Cleerly Compare to Calcium Scoring?
Calcium scoring is when providers use coronary CT images to measure hardened plaque, also called calcified plaque, in the arteries to predict heart attack risk. A person’s risk is scored from 0 to greater than 1000, with scores in the higher range indicating more calcified plaque.
A calcium score does not provide a complete picture of a person’s actual state of coronary artery disease. A score of zero means there is no calcified plaque; however, other types of plaque may still be present. These other kinds of plaque can still put a person at risk of heart attack.18
Cleerly is different from calcium scoring because it provides a more comprehensive report that shows all types of plaque build-up and the difference between high and low-risk plaque. Coronary artery calcium scoring remains a useful diagnostic tool for many providers, but it does not replicate the information provided in a Cleerly analysis.
Informed, Data-Driven Decisions
Cleerly equips healthcare providers with the detailed insights needed to make informed, data-driven decisions about your heart health. After your Cleerly analysis, your provider will receive a report with a comprehensive view of your heart’s arteries, which they can use to identify your risk and inform treatment plans.
One goal of identifying coronary artery disease is to take action to stabilize high-risk plaque and reduce your risk of a heart attack. Higher-risk, soft plaques can be transformed into hardened, stable plaques with effective medical therapy and lifestyle changes.19
Additionally, your provider can use your Cleerly report to identify if there are significant blockages or reduced blood flow that require immediate intervention. No matter your level of disease, your healthcare provider can use your Cleerly results to help determine the right course of treatment to reduce your long-term risk of heart attack.
