Calcium score vs CT angiogram: two different tests
One is a few minutes, no dye, and usually under $150. The other uses contrast and costs several times more. Schedulers confuse them constantly.
If you walk into an imaging centre and ask for “a heart scan”, there is a real chance you get booked into the wrong test. The two exams have similar names, do similar-sounding things, and differ by roughly an order of magnitude in price.
This page exists because that mix-up is the single most expensive mistake a reader of this site can make.
The two codes
CPT 75571
Coronary calcium scan
- No contrast dye
- No IV, no fasting, no prep
- A few minutes on the table
- Reports an Agatston score
- Median published cash price: $135
CPT 75574
Coronary CT angiogram (CCTA)
- Contrast dye through an IV
- Often a heart-rate-lowering medication first
- Longer appointment, more prep
- Shows the artery lumen and soft plaque
- Substantially more expensive
What each one can and cannot see
A calcium scan measures calcified plaque. That is its whole job. It gives you a number representing how much calcium is in your coronary arteries, which is a well-studied marker of how much atherosclerosis you have accumulated. It cannot see soft, non-calcified plaque, and it does not tell you whether any particular artery is narrowed.
A CT angiogram uses dye to light up the inside of the arteries, so it can show narrowing and can see soft plaque. It answers a different question — roughly, “is something blocking this artery?” rather than “how much plaque have I built up?”
They are not better and worse versions of the same test. A calcium scan is a risk-stratification tool. A CT angiogram is closer to a diagnostic study, and it is usually ordered because of symptoms.
What each one costs
For CPT 75571 we can tell you precisely, because we read the number off each facility’s own website: the median of 71 published self-pay prices is $135. The full distribution is here.
For CPT 75574 we are not going to publish a number, because we have not collected one. No facility we track publishes a self-pay CCTA price, so any range we printed would be the same uncited guesswork this site exists to replace. What we can say from the listings we have read is that it is consistently described as several times the cost of a calcium scan.
If you are quoted several hundred dollars for what you believe is a calcium scan, that is the signal to stop and ask which code they are quoting.
They are not billed together
The two are not normally performed and billed on the same day: calcium scoring is bundled into the angiogram when both are done, so a facility should not be charging you for both. If a quote itemises both, ask about it.
How to get the right one
Ask by code, not by name.
“What is your self-pay price for CPT 75571, coronary calcium scoring — the non-contrast one?”
The phrase non-contrast is the useful part. It is unambiguous to anyone working in imaging, in a way that “heart scan”, “cardiac CT” and “calcium test” are not.
Two more things worth confirming on the same call:
- whether the price includes the radiologist’s read
- whether they need an order from a clinician first
Which one do you actually want?
That is genuinely a question for the clinician ordering it, and this page is not going to pretend otherwise.
The short version: a calcium scan is the one usually discussed for people without symptoms who want to know where they stand on cardiovascular risk. A CT angiogram is usually ordered when there are symptoms to explain. If you have chest pain, that is a conversation to have with a doctor now, not a test to shop for on price.
What your calcium score means · What a calcium scan costs · Find a scan near you
Last updated September 16, 2026.