What's the Best Way to Detect Atherosclerotic Plaques?

A comparison of cardiac computed tomography and coronary angiography yields provocative results.

Coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) is frequently used to detect chronic obstructive coronary disease, but its value for detecting plaque burden has not been fully investigated. Researchers compared data on 71 patients with suspected coronary artery disease who received both 256-sliced multidetector CCTA and invasive coronary angiography (ICA) in a single-center study in Hungary sponsored by a genomics company.

Mean time between the two tests was 42 days, and 1000 coronary segments were examined. Coronary artery plaque was detected in significantly more segments by CCTA (49%) than by ICA (24%). Of the 235 positive segments found with ICA, CCTA also detected plaque in 94%. Of the 765 segments where ICA was negative, CCTA detected…

Reviewing Author

Joel M. Gore, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNIH–National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Joel M. Gore, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNIH–National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

What's the Best Way to Detect Atherosclerotic Plaques?

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Reviewing Author