CT Angiography: What It Shows About Your Heart and Arteries

Your chest feels tight when you climb stairs.

Or your doctor heard a “whooshing” sound in your neck.

Or a past scan found an aneurysm to keep an eye on.

Now your doctor wants a CT angiogram. Here’s what this scan shows, how it works, and where to get CT angiography in Norcross, Jonesboro, or Gainesville, GA.

Quick answer: CT angiography (CTA) is a scan that combines a CT scanner with contrast dye injected into a vein in your arm. It creates detailed 3D images of your blood vessels. Doctors use it to find narrowed or blocked arteries, aneurysms, and blood clots in the heart, neck, brain, lungs, and abdomen, without threading a catheter into an artery.

---

What Is a CTA Scan?

A CT scanner sends a series of quick X-ray pulses through your body. Each pulse captures a thin “slice,” and a computer combines the slices into detailed images.

For CT angiography, a technologist injects contrast dye through an IV in your arm. The scanner captures images while the dye flows through your blood vessels, so arteries show up bright and clear.

At MRI Imaging Specialist, our CT/CT Angiography services cover the heart, brain, neck and carotid arteries, chest, and abdomen. Our modern equipment uses lower radiation exposure, and all three of our Georgia centers offer CT.

What CT Angiography Can Show

Coronary CT Angiography for Chest Pain

Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) focuses on the arteries that supply your heart. It shows whether plaque has narrowed them and how much plaque is present. When it doesn’t find heart disease, it can sometimes reveal other causes of chest discomfort, such as a blood clot in the lungs or a problem with the aorta.

---

Real-World Proof: What the Research Shows

The strongest evidence for coronary CTA comes from SCOT-HEART, a large clinical trial in Scotland published in the New England Journal of Medicine. More than 4,000 patients referred to cardiology clinics for stable chest pain received either standard care or standard care plus a coronary CTA.

After five years, 2.3% of patients in the CTA group had died of coronary heart disease or had a nonfatal heart attack, compared with 3.9% in the standard-care group. The researchers linked the difference to better-targeted preventive treatment, since CTA showed doctors exactly who had plaque.

CT Angiography vs. Catheter Angiography

	CT Angiography (CTA)	Catheter Angiography
How dye is given	IV in your arm	Catheter threaded through an artery
Setting	Outpatient imaging center	Hospital procedure room
Can treat a blockage?	No (diagnosis only)	Yes, during the same procedure
Recovery	Return to normal activity the same day	Monitoring and recovery time afterward

Because CTA can’t open a blockage, patients at high risk with typical heart symptoms may go straight to catheter angiography. For many others, CTA gives answers without an invasive procedure.

Every CT angiogram at MRI Imaging Specialist is read by our board-certified radiologists, who have more than 50 years of combined experience.

---

How to Prepare for Your CT Angiogram

⚠️ Warning: Tell our scheduler if you are pregnant or might be. Also mention any recent imaging exam that used contrast dye, since it may affect when your scan can be done.

💡 Tip: The scan itself is fast. Most of your visit is spent getting the IV placed and getting comfortably positioned on the table.

After your exam, our radiologists interpret your images and send a report directly to your doctor. Your doctor will communicate the results to you. We offer same-day turnaround for regular readings and 2-hour turnaround for STAT readings.

---

CT Angiography in Norcross, Jonesboro & Gainesville, Close to Home

Norcross: 6760 Jimmy Carter Blvd, Suite 165, Norcross, GA 30071. Jimmy Carter Boulevard connects to I-85, Buford Highway, and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. We serve Norcross, Peachtree Corners, Duluth, Lilburn, Tucker, and Doraville.

Jonesboro: 6568 Tara Blvd, Suite B, Jonesboro, GA 30236, on Tara Boulevard (US-19/41). We serve Jonesboro, Riverdale, Morrow, Lovejoy, Hampton, and the rest of Clayton County.

Gainesville: 955-E Interstate Ridge Business Park, Gainesville, GA 30501, just off I-985 at Exit 22, about 1.5 miles from downtown Gainesville. We serve Gainesville, Oakwood, Flowery Branch, and the rest of Hall County.

Sources: RadiologyInfo.org (ACR/RSNA), CT Angiography (CTA); RadiologyInfo.org (ACR/RSNA), Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA); The SCOT-HEART Investigators, “Coronary CT Angiography and 5-Year Risk of Myocardial Infarction,” New England Journal of Medicine, 2018; Johns Hopkins Medicine, Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA).

---