My Coronary Plaque Dropped 48% in 16 Months: What the AI Scan Actually Showed | Dr Campbell Rogers

Visit The Proof website for the full show notes and supporting studies: https://theproof.com/podcast/ Simon's personal supplement stack: https://hub.theproof.com/supplements Eighteen months ago a CT scan revealed soft plaque in my arteries. I just had a second scan, and my plaque volume had fallen by around forty percent, with one plaque in my left main artery gone entirely. In this episode I sit down with the cardiologist whose technology measured it to ask the obvious question: can I actually trust that result? Dr Campbell Rogers is an interventional cardiologist who trained at Harvard, ran the cardiac catheterisation lab at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and is now Chief Medical Officer at Heartflow. Few people have thought more carefully about how we see, measure, and track coronary plaque. In this conversation we cover: What a calcium score, a CT coronary angiogram, and AI plaque analysis each actually tell you Why a calcium score of zero does not mean you are free of heart disease What my own before-and-after scans showed, and why Campbell believes the result The difference between soft and calcified plaque, and why plaque can stabilise as it calcifies Whether we should treat the plaque we can see rather than just an ApoB number How confirmation bias creeps in when different tools disagree Who should consider getting scanned, and the trade-offs involved 00:00 How Campbell Rogers went from cardiologist to Heartflow 06:37 What Heartflow is and how it works 11:17 Coronary CT angiogram vs. stress test 13:26 Why symptoms alone miss early heart disease 17:08 How Heartflow analyzes CT scans in 90 minutes 20:40 Calcified vs. non-calcified plaque: which is riskier 30:10 Why calcium score zero doesn't mean no heart disease 32:16 Who should get a CT angiogram with AI plaque analysis 34:39 Why seeing your plaque improves medication adherence 44:51 Simon's 2024 Heartflow scan results 48:22 How plaque rupture triggers a heart attack 50:48 Simon's 2026 scan: 48% plaque reduction in 16 months 56:39 How long to wait between CT scans 1:02:06 Heartflow vs. Cleerly vs. QAngio 1:07:02 How Heartflow results led Simon to start statins 1:09:20 JAMA study: Heartflow tracks plaque in prostate cancer patients 1:12:14 What is low attenuation plaque and why it's high risk 1:16:07 Who should ask their doctor about a coronary CT angiogram To connect with Dr Campbell Rogers, visit https://www.heartflow.com/. We'd love your feedback. Complete our quick 2-minute audience survey to help us better understand what content, topics, and guests you enjoy most. Take the survey here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FA.... This episode is brought to you by: 38TERA Consider 38TERA's DMN prebiotic supplement a daily multivitamin for your gut. Formulated by yours truly and gastroenterologist Dr Will Bulsiewicz. Head to https://38tera.com/?ref=SIMON and use code THEPROOF for a discount at checkout. 38Tera ships to the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Eight Sleep Upgrade your sleep with the Pod 5 Ultra by Eight Sleep. Clinically validated to deliver up to 1 extra hour of quality sleep per night through temperature control and biometric tracking. Use code THEPROOF at https://www.eightsleep.com/eu/theproof/ for up to $500 off. The 4th of July sale ends July 12, and you get 30 days to try it at home and return it if you don't love it. Eight Sleep ships to the U.S. (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, and territories), Canada, Mexico, most of the EU, the U.K., Australia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland. LMNT Stay hydrated with LMNT. Get a free Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase at http://drinklmnt.com/SIMON. Find your favourite LMNT flavour, or share with a friend. And if you don’t like it? Full refund, no questions asked. LMNT ships to the U.S. and Canada, with sparkling flavors available only in the contiguous U.S. Momentous My go-to supplement brand for protein and creatine is Momentous. Use code THEPROOF for up to 35% off your first order at http://livemomentous.com. Momentous ships to many countries worldwide depending on local import regulations. Shopify Shopify, the world's leading e-commerce platform, helps you turn browsers into buyers with the internet’s best-converting check out–up to 36% better compared to other leading e-commerce platforms. To boost your conversion rate, and grow your business, sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://www.shopify.com/proof. WHOOP Whoop, the most advanced fitness and health wearable available. Your personalised fitness and health coach to recover faster, sleep better, and train smarter. Claim your first month free on https://join.whoop.com/simon. Whoop ships to 56+ international markets, including the US, Canada, most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, UAE, Singapore, and parts of Asia.