In one aspect, the present invention is a method for producing CT images of a patient's heart suitable for calcification scoring, in which the heart has a cardiac cycle. The method includes steps of acquiring data representative of a first scout-scanned CT image of physical locations of the patient's body including at least a portion of the patient's heart at phases .phi..sub.1(L) of the cardiac cycle, acquiring data representative of a second scout-scanned CT image of the physical locations of the patient's body including at least a portion of the patient's heart at phases .phi..sub.2(L) of the cardiac cycle different from .phi..sub.1(L) at physical positions L of interest, and determining a difference image from the acquired data representative of the first scout-scanned CT image and the acquired data representative of the second scout-scanned CT image data. It is not necessary that .phi..sub.1(L) and .phi..sub.2(L) be constant as a function of position L.