Cardiac computed tomography (CT) offers new possibilities in the diagnostic evaluation and risk stratification of coronary artery disease (CAD). Coronary calcium can be detected using nonenhanced CT scanning with low radiation doses. Coronary CT angiography due to its higher radiation dose, is mainly used to exclude obstructive CAD in symptomatic patients, but it also detects both calcified and noncalcified plaques that do not cause significant luminal obstruction, and which provide incremental prognostic information over and above the presence of obstructive lesions and information on clinical variables. Current data do not support the use of coronary CT angiography for screening for obstructive CAD in asymptomatic individuals, but characterization of coronary plaques with the use of CT may have a role to play in the future