Are Heart and Lung Scans Worth It?

A heart and lung scan can be worth it — especially for adults with a smoking history, a family history of heart disease or lung cancer, elevated cardiovascular risk, or unanswered concerns about early disease. In one low-dose CT visit, the scan can help detect coronary calcium buildup and lung abnormalities before symptoms appear. It is a screening tool, not a diagnosis, and it is not the right choice for everyone. But for the right patient, it can offer earlier answers, clearer next steps, and genuine clarity about what is happening inside the body.

That said, "worth it" is not a universal answer. It depends on your age, risk profile, health history, and what you are hoping to learn. This guide breaks down what heart and lung scans actually show, who tends to benefit most, who may not need one, and what to do with the results.

If you want to see what is included in Craft Body Scan's Heart & Lung Scan before diving in, that page covers the specific procedures, pricing, and locations available near you.

What a Heart and Lung Scan Actually Shows

A heart and lung scan combines two distinct low-dose CT scans in a single visit. Each one looks at a different system — and each provides a different kind of information.

The heart scan — also called a coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan or coronary calcium score scan — uses computerized tomography to detect calcium deposits in the walls of the coronary arteries. Calcium accumulation in those arteries is a direct marker of atherosclerosis, the gradual buildup of plaque that can narrow blood flow to the heart. Your results come back as a calcium score. A score of zero suggests little to no detectable plaque. Higher scores indicate a greater burden of calcified deposits and a correspondingly higher risk of future cardiac events. Unlike cholesterol screening, which gives a blood-based estimate of risk, a coronary calcium heart scan provides direct imaging evidence of what is happening inside your arteries right now.

The lung scan uses low-dose CT (LDCT) to create detailed cross-sectional images of the lung tissue. It can identify:

• Lung nodules — small, abnormal growths that may need monitoring or follow-up imaging
• Early signs of lung cancer — tumors detected at a stage where treatment options are broader
• COPD and emphysema — structural changes in the air sacs of the lungs
• Pulmonary embolism indicators — abnormalities in blood vessels within the lungs
• Aortic aneurysm signs — enlargement of the major blood vessel running through the chest

Both scans are non-invasive, require no preparation or sedation, and the imaging itself takes less than ten minutes. Most patients spend around 30 minutes at the facility total, including brief intake and preparation. Results are reviewed by board-certified radiologists, and a written report is provided.

One important distinction worth understanding before you book: these are screening scans, not diagnostic tests. A screening scan tells you whether something appears abnormal and warrants follow-up. It does not confirm a diagnosis on its own. If the scan shows something that requires further evaluation, your care team will guide you toward appropriate next steps — whether that is additional imaging, a specialist visit, or a change in treatment or lifestyle. To understand how CT screening compares to other imaging options, see our breakdown of 5 health problems a CT scan can find.

Who Should Consider a Heart and Lung Scan?

Heart and lung scans are generally most useful for adults who carry specific risk factors but have not yet developed symptoms. They are designed for people who want earlier information — before a heart attack or a late-stage cancer diagnosis becomes the moment of discovery.

You may be a good candidate for a heart and lung scan if one or more of the following apply:

• Smoking history — current or former smokers, particularly those with 20 or more pack-years of smoking history, are at elevated risk for both lung cancer and heart disease
• Family history — a parent or sibling who developed heart disease, lung cancer, or a cardiovascular event at a relatively young age increases your own risk meaningfully
• Age 40 to 70 — this is the window where silent disease most commonly begins to accumulate before producing noticeable symptoms
• High blood pressure or elevated cholesterol — both are established contributors to coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis
• Diabetes — significantly raises cardiovascular risk, particularly for coronary artery disease
• Occupational or environmental exposure — prolonged exposure to asbestos, radon, or other pulmonary irritants increases lung cancer risk
• Unexplained symptoms — shortness of breath, chest pain or discomfort, or persistent respiratory symptoms that have not been fully explained by a primary care visit

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) specifically recommends annual low-dose CT lung cancer screening for adults aged 50 to 80 who have a 20 pack-year smoking history and currently smoke or have quit within the past 15 years. That recommendation is based on evidence from the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), a large-scale randomized controlled trial funded by the National Cancer Institute, which found that LDCT screening reduced lung cancer mortality by approximately 20 percent compared to chest X-ray screening in high-risk populations.

For the heart scan specifically, candidacy is based more on cardiovascular risk factors than on age alone. Adults aged 40 to 70 with one or more risk factors — smoking, hypertension, elevated LDL, family history, or diabetes — are generally the population most likely to benefit from a coronary calcium score. Your primary care physician can help you determine whether your risk profile makes this scan a reasonable next step. Our post on how preventive screenings help you age on your terms covers candidacy in broader detail for those weighing multiple screening options.

When a Heart and Lung Scan May Not Be Worth It

Heart and lung scans are not appropriate for everyone. For some people, the scan is unlikely to provide actionable information — and in some cases, it may generate unnecessary anxiety from findings that turn out to be benign.

A scan may not be the right choice if:

• You have no significant risk factors — a non-smoker in their 30s with no family history and normal blood pressure is unlikely to find meaningful abnormalities on a CAC scan or LDCT
• You are already under active monitoring — if your physician is already tracking a known heart or lung condition with regular imaging, a separate screening scan may not add new information
• You have a health condition that limits treatment options — if a serious illness substantially affects your ability to pursue surgery or aggressive treatment, the clinical value of detecting early cancer or advanced heart disease may be reduced
• You are pregnant — low-dose CT involves a small amount of radiation, and screening during pregnancy is generally avoided unless clinically necessary

It is also worth understanding the issue of false positives. Lung CT scans frequently detect nodules — small spots on the lung that appear unusual but are most often benign. In fact, the majority of nodules found on screening CT scans are not cancerous; they often result from prior infections, scar tissue, or minor anatomical variations. However, a detected nodule typically requires follow-up imaging — usually a repeat scan at 6 to 12 months — to confirm whether it is growing or changing. Understanding the difference between a cyst and a tumor on imaging can help put those follow-up findings in context.

Can a Heart CT Scan Show Lung Cancer?

This is one of the most common questions people ask after learning that a heart CT scan and a lung CT scan are distinct procedures — and it is a fair question to ask before booking either one.

The short answer is: a heart CT scan may incidentally show lung abnormalities, but it is not a substitute for a dedicated lung cancer screening.

Here is why. A coronary calcium scan is optimized to image the coronary arteries and the immediate area around the heart. The scan does capture a portion of the chest, and radiologists reviewing the images may note incidental findings in adjacent structures — including the lungs. If something unusual appears in the imaging field, it will typically be documented in the report and flagged for follow-up.

However, a dedicated low-dose CT lung scan is specifically calibrated to produce high-resolution images of the entire lung field. It uses different imaging parameters, covers more of the lung tissue, and is designed to detect nodules as small as a few millimeters. A heart scan alone is not configured to provide the same level of lung detail, and relying on it as a lung cancer screening tool would mean working with incomplete information.

This distinction matters most for high-risk individuals — particularly current or former smokers who meet USPSTF criteria for annual lung cancer screening. For those patients, a dedicated LDCT lung scan is the appropriate tool, not a heart CT used as a proxy. You can read more about what a cancer screening package typically covers and how to choose the right combination for your risk profile.

Craft Body Scan's Heart & Lung Scan addresses this directly by combining both scans in a single visit: the coronary calcium scan for the heart and a dedicated low-dose CT scan for the lungs. That combination is what allows both systems to be evaluated properly in one appointment.

Heart CT vs. Lung LDCT: What Each Scan Is Designed to Do

Benefits of Early Detection — and the Limits of Screening

The case for early detection is well-supported by clinical data. Lung cancer, in particular, has dramatically different outcomes depending on what stage it is found. According to the National Cancer Institute, the five-year survival rate for lung cancer detected while still localized — before it has spread to lymph nodes or other organs — is approximately 65 percent. When found at an advanced stage, that rate drops to roughly 7 percent.

Source: National Cancer Institute SEER data. Figures represent approximate 5-year relative survival rates for lung and bronchus cancer by stage at diagnosis.

That gap is the core argument for screening. Finding disease early, when treatment options are broader and the body is more responsive to intervention, can meaningfully change the outcome. The NLST study demonstrated this directly: among high-risk smokers, those screened with low-dose CT had about 20 percent fewer lung cancer deaths compared to those screened with chest X-ray alone.

For the heart, early detection of a high coronary calcium score gives patients and their physicians a concrete, measurable reason to act — through medication, lifestyle changes, or more frequent monitoring — before a cardiac event occurs. A calcium score of zero is genuinely reassuring and gives patients a baseline to track over time. A high score creates urgency and a clear path forward. For a broader view of what a single imaging visit can reveal, our guide on early detection with MRI explores how different modalities complement each other in a preventive health strategy.

At the same time, screening has limits that are worth acknowledging clearly.

A scan is a data point, not a verdict. Used in the right clinical context — as one input among many, reviewed by experienced radiologists, and followed by thoughtful physician interpretation — it is a genuinely powerful tool. Used as a replacement for ongoing care, it is less useful than it should be.

How Long It Takes, What to Expect, and Possible Risks

One of the most common barriers to getting a heart and lung scan is uncertainty about the experience itself. Here is what a typical visit looks like at Craft Body Scan.

For more detail on what to eat or drink before your scan, our guide on whether you can eat before a CT scan or MRI covers everything you need to know in advance.

On the question of radiation: low-dose CT uses significantly less radiation than a standard diagnostic CT scan. The radiation exposure from a single LDCT screening is roughly comparable to the natural background radiation a person receives over several months of everyday life. For individuals who meet screening criteria — particularly those with significant smoking histories or cardiovascular risk factors — the clinical benefit of detecting disease early is generally considered to outweigh the minimal radiation exposure.

If you have concerns about whether the scan is appropriate given your specific health history, speaking with your primary care provider before booking is always a reasonable step.

Where to Book a Heart and Lung Scan

Craft Body Scan offers heart and lung scans across multiple locations, including centers in Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Ohio. Each facility uses advanced low-dose CT technology, and all scans are reviewed by board-certified radiologists.

For couples, Craft Body Scan currently offers a $149 couples special for a combined heart and lung scan — one of the more accessible price points for private-pay preventive imaging. Individual scan pricing is also available. If you want to understand what a heart scan typically costs and what factors affect pricing, that guide walks through the full picture before you book. Because this is a direct-pay screening service, it is typically not billed through insurance, but HSA and FSA funds may be applicable depending on your plan.

To find a location near you or to learn more about what is included in the scan, visit the Heart & Lung Scan page for full details on pricing, preparation, and what to expect from your results.