scholarly journals The central role of CT coronary angiography in postcardiac arrest care in the young adult

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. e232104
Author(s):  
Ayisha Mehtab Khan-Kheil ◽  
Alexandra Sophie Moss ◽  
Leanne Stephens ◽  
Jamal Nasir Khan

A 32-year-old man with no medical history went into ventricular fibrillation while running at the gym. He was transferred to our tertiary centre post successful resuscitation where admission electrocardiography and echocardiography were unremarkable. The initial cause of cardiac arrest was suspected arrhythmogenic and he was admitted for further investigations including exercise testing, ajmaline challenge, CT coronary angiography (CTCA) and cardiovascular MRI, with the likely outcome of cardioverter-defibrillator implantation. CTCA, however, revealed significant stenosis in the proximal left anterior descending artery as the likely cause for his arrest. Invasive coronary angiography confirmed this and facilitated successful stent implantation, avoiding the need for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation. This case highlights the importance of CTCA, a non-invasive and readily-available test in the investigation of young patients postcardiac arrest, who require active exclusion of coronary artery disease and anomalous coronary anatomy, though they represent a low-risk population group.

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Arbas Redondo ◽  
D Tebar Marquez ◽  
I.D Poveda Pinedo ◽  
R Dalmau Gonzalez-Gallarza ◽  
S.C Valbuena Lopez ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Cardiac computed tomography (CT) use has progressively increased as the preferred initial test to rule out coronary artery disease (CAD) when clinical likelihood is low. Coronary artery calcium (CAC) detected by CT is a well-established marker for cardiovascular risk. However, it is not recommended for diagnosis of obstructive CAD. Absence of CAC, defined as an Agatston score of zero, has been associated to good prognosis despite underestimation of non-calcified plaques. Purpose To evaluate whether zero CAC score could help ruling out obstructive CAD in a safely manner. Methods Observational study based on a prospective database of patients (pts) referred to cardiac CT between 2017 and 2019. Pts with an Agatston score of zero were selected. Results We included 176 pts with zero CAC score and non-invasive coronary angiography performed. The median duration of follow-up was 23.9 months. Baseline characteristics of the population are shown in Table 1. In 117 pts (66.5%), cardiac CT was indicated as part of their chest pain evaluation. Mean age was 57.2 years old, 68.2% were women and only and 9.4% were active smokers. Normal coronary arteries were found in 173 pts (98.3%). Obstructive CAD, defined as ≥50% luminal diameter stenosis of a major vessel, was present in 1/176 (0.6%); while non-obstructive atherosclerotic plaques were found in 2 pts (1.1%). During follow-up, one patient died of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. None either suffered from myocardial infarction or needed coronary revascularization. Conclusions In our cohort, a zero CAC score detected by cardiac CT rules out obstructive coronary artery disease in 98.3%, with only 1.7% of non-calcified atherosclerosis plaques and 0.6% of major adverse events. Although further research on this topic is needed, these results support the fact that non-invasive coronary angiography could be avoided in patients with low clinical likelihood of CAD and zero CAC score, facilitating the management of the increasing demand for coronary CT and reduction of radiation dose. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None


Author(s):  
Sheref M Zaghloul ◽  
Walid Hassan ◽  
Ashraf M Reda ◽  
Ghada M Sultan ◽  
Mohamed A Salah ◽  
...  

Background: Various diagnostic tests including conventional invasive coronary angiography and non-invasive Computed Tomography (CT) coronary angiography are used in the diagnosis of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). Objective: The present report aims to evaluate the specificity and sensitivity of CT coronary angiography in diagnosis of coronary artery disease compared to the standard invasive coronary angiography. Methods: A retrospective study was done over 2 years started from May of 2015 up to May of 2017. The medical evaluation was based on systematic reviews of diagnostic studies with invasive coronary angiography and those with CT coronary angiogram. Data on special indications (bypass grafts, in-stent-restenosis) were also included in the evaluation. The CT scanners used with 320 slices. The study included patients with diabetes, hypertension, and data included age, glomerular filtration rate and ejection fraction. Results: Of the 99 patients included in the study, sensitivity of the total lesions were 87.1% which was highest for the graft lesions (100% sensitivity) and lowest for the Left Main (LM) lesions (83.3% sensitivity), on the other hand the specificity of the total lesion were high (98.1% specificity) which also was highest for the graft lesions (100% specificity) and lowest for the Left Anterior Descending (LAD) lesions (95% specificity). Regarding accuracy, CT coronary was 96.6% accurate for the whole lesions. Conclusions: From a medical point of view, CT coronary angiography using scanners with at least 320 slices should be recommended as a test to rule in obstructive coronary stenosis in order to avoid inappropriate invasive coronary angiography in patients with an intermediate pretest probability of CAD. Multi detector CT (MDCT) has reasonably high accuracy for detecting significant obstructive CAD when assessed at artery level.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A M Masoud ◽  
W T Topping ◽  
M L Lynch

Abstract Background Cost-effectiveness is imperative for a sustainable healthcare service. Non-invasive testing is used to risk stratify patients and reduce the need for invasive investigations in cardiology. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Clinical Guideline for evaluation of chest pain was updated in 2016 when NICE recommended CT coronary angiography (CTCA) as the first-line investigation for patients with suspected stable coronary artery disease (CAD). Purpose To evaluate the accuracy of CTCA in real life daily practice in a district general hospital outside the strict environment of clinical trials. Methods A retrospective analysis of all CTCA studies carried out between June and December 2017 was performed. Graft studies were excluded. Potentially obstructive CAD on CTCA was defined as any luminal stenosis ≥50% of a major epicardial coronary artery. On invasive coronary angiography (ICA), clinically significant CAD was defined as a luminal stenosis of ≥50% in the left main stem or a stenosis of ≥70% of any other major epicardial coronary artery. Results Out of a total of 528 CTCA studies, 109 patients (mean age 64.2 ± 10.4; 67.9% male) showed potentially significant CAD in at least one major epicardial coronary artery. The median calcium score was 379.7 (IQR = 86-929). 61 (56%) patients had ICA, 20 (18.3%) patients had non-invasive functional coronary assessment (19 stress echocardiogram and 1 stress perfusion cardiac magnetic resonance) and 3 (2.8%) patients had both. The remaining patients were managed medically without further investigation. Correlation between potentially obstructive CAD on CTCA and clinically significant CAD on ICA showed a sensitivity of 95.8% (95% CI: 85.8%-99.5%), specificity of 68.0% (95% CI: 61.0%-74.5%), positive predictive value of 42.2% (95% CI: 37.1%-47.4%), negative predictive value of 98.5% (95% CI: 94.5%-99.6%) and overall accuracy of 73.5% (95% CI: 67.5%-78.9%). Among patients who had ICA, 21 patients (34.4%) required coronary revascularization (16 percutaneous coronary intervention and 5 coronary artery bypass grafting) and 40 (65.6%) patients were treated medically. Only 1 patient (4.3% of 23 patients) showed evidence of inducible ischemia on non-invasive functional testing. Conclusion CTCA in a real world practice has high sensitivity and high negative predictive value compared to the gold standard ICA. CTCA improved patient selection for ICA to those most likely to have significant CAD.


ESC CardioMed ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 1331-1339
Author(s):  
Jeroen J. Bax

The inclusion or exclusion of coronary artery disease is important for patient management, both from a diagnostic and prognostic view, as well as from a therapeutic view. Various detection techniques are available, including invasive (coronary angiography) or non-invasive imaging techniques. The techniques can also be divided into anatomical imaging or functional imaging, where anatomical imaging detects coronary atherosclerosis and stenosis (invasive coronary angiography, but also non-invasive coronary angiography—performed with multidetector computed tomography), while functional imaging (nuclear imaging, stress echocardiography, and cardiovascular magnetic resonance) detects ischaemia: the haemodynamic consequences of the atherosclerosis/stenosis. The early phase of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease is often asymptomatic (and anatomical imaging can be used to detect/exclude coronary atherosclerosis), whereas with progression of atherosclerotic disease, symptoms occur related to myocardial ischaemia. Non-invasive imaging can facilitate in the detection of both early (asymptomatic) and more advanced (symptomatic, ischaemic) coronary artery disease. The pathophysiological cascade of cardiac abnormalities that occur once ischaemia is induced is referred to as the ischaemic cascade. The ischaemic cascade consists of chronological development of perfusion abnormalities, followed by diastolic dysfunction, then systolic dysfunction, and finally electrocardiographic abnormalities. In this chapter, the variety of the different non-invasive imaging techniques to assess the different phases of the non-ischaemic part and the ischaemic part (ischaemic cascade) of coronary artery disease are described.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. e228296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subramanya G N Upadhyaya ◽  
Lal Hussain Mughal ◽  
Derek Connolly ◽  
Gregory Lip

Single coronary artery (SCA) is a very rare coronary anomaly. The accurate diagnosis of the entity requires multimodality imaging of the coronary anatomy. SCA is often incidentally diagnosed when patients are investigated for symptoms of suspected coronary artery disease with invasive or non-invasive coronary angiography. There are no established diagnostic electrocardiographic or echocardiographic criteria to identify the presence of SCA, which makes the diagnosis a far-reaching fruit. We present a young male patient presenting with a non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. He was found to have SCA on invasive coronary angiography, which was subsequently confirmed by CT coronary angiography.


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