2026 cardiovascular disease (CVD) clinical guidelines from the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology and others emphasize early screening for coronary calcium (CAC) – a well-established biomarker for existing and predicting future CVD. These guidelines cite several studies by UCLA Professor and BDI Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Matthew Budoff, MD. CAC is both prognostic and a reliable target of therapy – enabling prevention of heart attack, heart failure and stroke.
Despite its established clinical value, payers generally do not cover CAC screening (incidental or otherwise) – so it is rarely done. Additional deterrents to CAC testing include radiation and time for new imaging. Testing for each disease or condition is burdensome – hence even those at-risk often go untested.
BDI is addressing these issues by adding CAC analytics in its payer-covered osteoporosis (low bone mineral density or “BMD”) screenings. This addition follows years of studies by BDI (https://bdi.ai/research-publications/ and here) and others showing the inverse relationship between BMD and CAC. With this addition, BDI’s payer-covered osteoporosis screening (patient deductible/co-pay is waived) of existing CT scans now also detects and reports on elevated CAC/CVD risk that may otherwise go undetected and thus untreated until ‘too late’ – after heart attack, stroke, etc.
Such ‘opportunistic’ screening of existing CT scans (done previously or concurrently for reasons other than osteoporosis or CAC) is part of the health system’s growing consensus to leverage existing patient data before new tests/procedures are done. It improves detection/prevention with no additional radiation, patient or other burden, cost, equipment or staffing. No extra patient or provider steps required. Assessing multiple conditions like osteoporosis and CVD from the same existing CT amplifies these benefits of opportunistic screening significantly pioneered by BDI.
“By extracting more clinically valuable information from an existing CT scan, we can identify important health risks earlier and support more proactive, preventive care,” said Dr. Budoff.