Medically reviewed by Dr. Vassily Eliopoulos, MD · Last updated June 2026
A Cleerly analysis built on a CCTA uses FDA-cleared AI to read your coronary arteries vessel-by-vessel — the most precise non-invasive picture of your actual cardiovascular risk.
Heart disease is the number-one killer of high-performing adults — and the standard screening most executives receive is a generation behind. A coronary calcium score tells you whether you have calcified plaque. It says nothing about the soft, non-calcified plaque that causes the majority of heart attacks — and which can be present even when your calcium score is zero.
A Cleerly analysis built on a CCTA (coronary CT angiogram) is different. It uses FDA-cleared AI to read your scan vessel-by-vessel and quantify the total burden, type, and location of plaque throughout your coronary arteries. It is, today, the most precise non-invasive picture of your actual cardiovascular risk.
At Longevity Health, the Cleerly CCTA isn’t an add-on. It’s the centerpiece of how we think about keeping you alive and performing for decades.
“Longevity Health quite literally saved my life. Their advanced CCTA scan identified a 70% blockage in my LAD that others missed. A week later, I had the best cardiac surgeon in New York operating on me.”
Jim McCormick · Founder, First Manhattan Consulting
| Coronary Calcium Score (CAC) | CCTA | CCTA + Cleerly analysis | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it sees | Calcified plaque only | The arteries + plaque (calcified and soft) | Every plaque, quantified by volume, type & location with AI |
| Misses soft plaque? | Yes (its biggest blind spot) | No | No |
| Output | A single number | Radiologist’s read | A precise, trackable plaque map you can act on and re-measure |
| Typical cost (standalone, US market) | ~$99–$400 | ~$500–$1,500 | ~$1,500–$2,500 |
| At Longevity Health | Available | Available | Included in membership |
A calcium score is a useful, cheap first signal — and if yours is high, you need the full picture now. But a score of zero is not a clean bill of health: soft plaque doesn’t calcify until later, so the most dangerous, rupture-prone plaque is exactly what a calcium score can’t see. For the full clinical comparison, see Calcium Score vs. CCTA →
This is the difference between “your cholesterol looks fine” and “here is exactly what is in your arteries, and here is the plan to change it.”
Standalone in the US market, a CCTA with Cleerly analysis typically runs ~$1,500–$2,500, depending on facility and region; a basic calcium score is far cheaper (~$99–$400) but, as above, far less informative. Insurance coverage is evolving — in late 2025 Medicare established a national payment pathway for AI-based coronary plaque analysis, a signal the field is maturing.
For Longevity Health members, the CCTA and Cleerly analysis are included as part of your comprehensive assessment — alongside whole-body MRI, advanced bloodwork, VO2 max, DEXA, and genomics — and, more importantly, alongside the clinical team that turns the result into a plan and tracks it every quarter. See what’s included in the Executive Physical →
If you are a high-performing adult over ~40 (or younger with family history), the honest answer is: a precise read of your single biggest mortality risk is among the highest-value diagnostics available. The caveats worth stating plainly: a CCTA involves a small dose of radiation and iodinated contrast, it’s not appropriate for everyone, and a scan is only as useful as the clinical relationship that acts on it. A number with no one to interpret and treat it is just anxiety. That’s the gap we exist to close.