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Cardiac computed tomography (CCT), which is increasingly popular for evaluating patients with coronary calcification and arterial disease, often produces noncardiac incidental findings. To evaluate the incidence, clinical importance, and costs of these incidental findings, researchers studied 966 consecutive patients who underwent CCT during 12 months at a single Canadian institution.
Incidental findings were noted in 401 patients (41.5%); of these, 12 were deemed to be clinically significant (e.g., 5 thrombi, 1 aortic dissection that was not clinically suspected, 1 ruptured breast implant), and 68 were deemed to be indeterminate (e.g., 34 noncalcified pulmonary nodules <1 cm, 11 larger lung nodules, 9 liver nodules/cysts). After a mean 18-m…