Compared with older, invasive, techniques CT angiography and stress tests show similar results
Orange County, CA - March 16th 2017 - Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death with an estimated 17.5 million people, 31% of all deaths, dying worldwide each year. Caused by heart and blood vessel disorders this condition can be further exacerbated by excessive alcohol and tobacco use, physical inactivity, and an unhealthy diet. Most cardiovascular diseases are preventable through preventative action to reduce those factors, but often there are no symptoms of underlying disease.
Treatment for these conditions often includes bypass surgery or stent placement in cases of excessive coronary arterial narrowing, or stenosis, but antecedent studies have demonstrated that the outcomes are comparable to medical therapies in impact. Deciding on treatment options is dependent on the extent of the hemodynamic lesion, or how much blood is being blocked from different areas in the heart.
The use of both invasive coronary angiography (ICA) and stress tests with single photon emission tomography (SPECT) myocardial imaging has been the accepted method of making these decisions, but requires a catheter that is threaded from an incision point in the groin up to the heart.
Now, according to a new study appearing online in the journal Radiology, noninvasive CT angiography and stress tests can help anticipate the likelihood of an individual suffering a heart attack or other injurious cardiovascular event.
"Invasive angiography is generally safe, but it can cause vascular problems in a significant number of patients, most commonly at the puncture [site]," said Dr. João A.C. Lima, M.D., from Johns Hopkins Hospital and School of Medicine. "In rare cases, it can cause strokes or heart attacks. These risks are not trivial."
To see if combined CT angiography (CTA) and CT myocardial stress perfusion imaging (CTP) could yield similar or improved results compared to ICA/SPECT, researchers examined the ability of both techniques in anticipating the future occurrence of a major adverse cardiac event (MACE). The team compared both approaches on 379 patients who had been referred for ICA from November 2009 to July 2011.
Both techniques showed similar value in predicting MACE after 2 years without complication. The findings of the study revealed rates for CT angiography and CT perfusion were 94% negative for coronary artery disease(CAD) versus 82% positive for CAD, similar to the combined ICA/SPECT findings which were 93% negative for CAD vs. 77% positive for CAD.
With these complementary findings the noninvasive procedure should slowly become the standard for MACE prediction. The procedure is safer, less expensive, and easier on patients. The procedure proved easier to perform, for 15 of the 16 centers that took part in the trial had never done the procedure yet were able to learn it effectively.
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Compared with older, invasive, techniques CT angiography and stress tests show similar results Orange County, CA – March 16th 2017 – Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death with an estimated 17.5 million people, 31% of all deaths, dying worldwide each year. Caused by heart and blood vessel disorders this condition can be further exacerbated […]