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Coronary computed tomographic angiography (CTA) results are supported by doctors and more than half of CTA investigations change Coronary artery disease (CAD) risk classification and over 1 out of 3 tests taken impact care. 

According to the information published in the May 1, 2010, issue of the American Journal of Cardiology the doctors who advises CTA to their patients to check for the consequences of  coronary CTA are benifited by the tests themselves on actual patient care, A latest survey tells. 

Added to that, the data gathered by coronary CTA leads to significant risk re-categorising new diagnostic testing and medication changes.Researchers led by Ron Blankstein, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA), assessed 184 consecutive patients who underwent CTA scans for the evaluation of CAD at their institution from March 2008 to July 2008. The level of coronary disease detected by CTA was severe for 26%, mild to moderate in 47%, and not present at all in 27% of the patients.

Therapy affected due to avoided Tests. If CTA was not available to the physicians, invasive angiography or a noninvasive stress test would have been ordered instead. CTA tests also resulted in more than half of the patients having their CAD risk re-classified, either significantly increasing (30%) or decreasing (28%) their risk. over one-third of the tests resulted in either the initiation of new medical therapy (16%) or an increased dose of existing medical therapy (18%), while 3% resulted in the discontinuation or decreased dose of existing medical therapy. CTA exams also affected subsequent testing, with 19% of scans resulting in planned catheterizations with or without PCI and 6% resulting in noninvasive stress testing.

“The study supports the notion that, especially in intermediate-risk patients, cardiac CT can be used to further risk stratify a patient’s likelihood of having coronary disease,” Dr. Blankstein told TCTMD in a telephone interview. “Furthermore, in patients who are then discovered to have coronary disease, cardiac CT can give the clinician the opportunity to intensify medical therapy.”

Dr. Blankstein added that the study is meaningful since it assesses how clinicians actually regard CTA test results. “One of the things that came across in our study is that the vast majority of clinicians who ordered this exam felt the results were very useful,” he said. “If the clinician thinks the exam is useful, they’re more likely to act on the results of the test, and that ultimately determines whether a test we do today will have any impact on patient care in the future.”

Source:American Journal of Cardiology