CT Angiography for Low-Risk Chest Pain Patients?

Most low-risk patients who underwent CT angiography were discharged home, and none suffered adverse cardiac events within 30 days.

Clinicians are using computed tomographic angiography (CTA) increasingly to look for anatomic evidence of coronary artery disease. In this prospective observational study, investigators followed 568 low-risk patients (TIMI risk score, ≤2; JAMA 2000; 284:876) who underwent CTA as part of their work-ups in a Pennsylvania emergency department. A scan was considered negative if it showed <50% coronary stenosis and a calcium score <100.

Five hundred eight patients had negative scans: 476 (84%) were discharged after CTA, and 32 were admitted. Telephone follow-up revealed that no patient with a negative scan result died or experienced nonfatal myocardial infarction in the 30 days after presentation.

Reviewing Author

Kirsten E. Fleischmann, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNational Institutes of Health

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican College of Cardiology/American Heart Association

Kirsten E. Fleischmann, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNational Institutes of Health

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican College of Cardiology/American Heart Association