Coronary CT Scans Are Faster than Standard MI Diagnostic Methods

Not only faster, but cheaper, and just as accurate.  That’s the claim arising from a study presented at the recent American Heart Association meeting. 

Among the 6 million US people attending the emergency room with chest pains each year, only a few are actually having a heart attack.  To rule out heart attacks in the ER, Detroit have explored the value of coronary computerized tomography (CT) angiography and compared it with standard stress testing.  The CT angiography involves injection of a contrast medium in conjunction with CT of the heart. 

More than 700 chest pain patients were randomly assigned to have the CT angiography or diagnosis by stress testing.  They were patients who didn’t have definite signs of a heart attack from blood tests or EKGs, but clearly needed further investigation.

In the CT angiography group, 82% were found to have clear arteries and were discharged; in the rest, there were 9 angioplasties and 4 bypass surgeries.  In the standard testing group, 89% were determined to have clear arteries; there were 8 angioplasties and no bypass surgeries.  Side effects of the procedures were similar in the two groups.

The big difference between the groups was in time and cost.  CT angiography patients were diagnosed in about 3 hours, compared with more than 6 hours for the other group.  And costs for CT angiography averaged $2,137, compared to $3,458 for standard testing.  Furthermore, I suspect the patients would prefer the CT angiography procedure to a stress test – but I might be wrong.