In recent years it has become clear that treatment of coronary artery disease – and in particular percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) – must be guided by imaging techniques that give some information on the extent of myocardial ischaemia. While nuclear medicine techniques such as SPECT (single-photon emission computed tomography) have become widespread, and have a […]
Category: Cardiovascular imaging
Coronary Artery Calcium Scanning Improves Risk Stratification
In the JUPITER study, patients with low cholesterol levels but raised high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels were seen to benefit from treatment with rosuvastatin, although overall cardiovascular events were low. In this study, the authors investigated whether the use of coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring could further stratify risk in a population of patients from […]
MRI study gives new insights into stress (takotsubo) cardiomyopathy
Stress Cardiomyopathy (SC), originally described as takotsubo, is characterised by severe – but reversible – impairment of left ventricular function in the absence of significant coronary artery disease. The vast majority of patients present with symptoms similar to those of an acute coronary syndrome, and tend to have good outcomes despite the initial severity of […]
Coronary CT in a low-risk population
The role of atherosclerotic plaque imaging techniques in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease remains to be determined. Perhaps the most promising technique at the moment is coronary CT, which has a high sensitivity for the detection of atherosclerosis. However, the benefits of CT must be balanced against the risks of contrast and radiation exposure. […]
CACS improves cardiovascular risk prediction
Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring (CACS) can be used to predict the likelihood of future cardiovascular events. However, whether this provides extra information on top of traditional cardiovascular risk factors remains unclear. In this study 6814 participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) underwent CACS and were then followed up for five year. None of […]
Coronary calcium scoring – Not a suitable endpoint for clinical trials
Coronary calification is viewed as the endpoint of the atherosclerotic disease process. As such, whether it can be used to monitor changes in response to novel and existing pharmaceutical therapies remains unknown. To address this question, McCullough and Chinnaiyan performed a meta-analysis of the only ten trials in which coronary artery calcium (CAC) was measured […]
CT Angiography may negatively impact other imaging modalities
The role of Computed Tomography (CT) of the coronary arteries in the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease remains is in evolution. Yet in several areas of the world, this technique is already in widespread use, and it is not yet known what effect this has had on other areas of the diagnosis and […]
CT Angiography – the need for PROTECTION
The potential risks from exposure to ionizing radiation during cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) have led many to question the role of this technique.The Prospective Multicenter StudyOn Radiation Dose Estimates Of Cardiac CT Angiography In Daily PracticeI (PROTECTION I) was an observational study of estimated radiation dose in 1965 patients undergoing CCTA over an 11 […]
64-slice CT unable to out-perform coronary angiography
Previous studies comparing CT coronary angiography with the current gold standard of coronary angiography have been limited by single-centre design and inherent bias in small studies. This multi-centre, international study, CORE 64 (Coronary Artery Evaluation Using 64-Row Multidetector Computed Tomography Angiography) used central blinded analysis to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of MDCT angiography involving 64 slice […]