MONDAY, Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) -- In patients presenting with acute chest pain, coronary multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) may help rule out acute coronary syndrome and improve the accuracy of triage, according to a study published online Oct. 30 in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Udo Hoffmann, M.D., M.P.H., of Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues performed contrast-enhanced 64-slice MDCT coronary angiography on 103 patients to evaluate the presence of coronary atherosclerotic plaques and areas of significant coronary artery stenosis.
The researchers found that 14 patients had acute coronary syndrome. They determined that the absence of significant coronary artery stenosis (73 of 103 patients) and non-significant coronary atherosclerotic plaques (41 of 103 patients) accurately ruled out acute coronary syndrome.
"Because acute coronary syndrome is rare in the absence of plaque, MDCT may identify a group of patients who can be sent home safely on the basis of the CT findings," the authors state. "However, in the presence of plaque, the CT result must be interpreted in the context of the patient's clinical presentation."
Abstract
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