Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography

Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question

Download PDF
1
Don’t use coronary artery calcium scoring for patients with known coronary artery disease (including stents and bypass grafts).

Coronary artery calcium scoring is used for evaluation of individuals without known coronary artery disease and offers limited incremental prognostic value for individuals with known coronary artery disease, such as those with stents and bypass grafts.

2
Don’t order coronary artery calcium scoring for preoperative evaluation for any surgery, irrespective of patient risk.

No evidence exists to support the diagnostic or prognostic potential of coronary artery calcium scoring in individuals in the preoperative setting. This practice may add costs and confound professional guideline-based evaluations.

3
Don’t order coronary artery calcium scoring for screening purposes on low risk asymptomatic individuals except for those with a family history of premature coronary artery disease.

Net reclassification of risk by coronary artery calcium scoring, when added to clinical risk scoring, is least effective in low risk individuals.

4
Don’t routinely order coronary computed tomography angiography for screening asymptomatic individuals.

Coronary computed tomography angiography findings of coronary artery disease stenosis severity rarely offer incremental discrimination over coronary artery calcium scoring in asymptomatic individuals.

5
Don’t use coronary computed tomography angiography in high risk* emergency department patients presenting with acute chest pain.

To date, randomized controlled trials evaluating use of coronary computed tomography angiography for individuals presenting with acute chest pain in the emergency department have been limited to low or low-intermediate risk individuals.

* Risk defined by the Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) risk score for unstable angina/acute coronary syndromes.

These items are provided solely for informational purposes and are not intended as a substitute for consultation with a medical professional. Patients with any specific questions about the items on this list or their individual situation should consult their physician.

The Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) is the professional society devoted exclusively to cardiovascular computed tomography (CCT), representing physicians, scientists and technologists advocating for research, education and clinical excellence in the use of CCT. With an expanding global membership, it is acknowledged and recognized as the representative and advocate for research, education, and clinical excellence in the use of cardiovascular computed tomography. SCCT’s mission includes fostering optimal clinical effectiveness of CCT through professional education, establishment of standards for quality assurance and professional training, and development of evidence-based guidelines for its use to enhance patient care and improve the quality of cardiovascular medical practice. SCCT also serves as an advocate for cardiovascular CT in all interactions with the health care industry, medical policy development and reimbursement organizations.

Learn more at: www.scct.org.

How this list was created: The Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) formed a committee panel made up of expert members of its existing Guidelines Committee and Publications and Statements Committee that would be dedicated to recommending between five and 10 questions that should be considered when ordering Coronary CT angiography and coronary artery calcium scoring. The panel reviewed and referred to SCCT’s existing and published guidelines, appropriate use criteria and support statements. Once questions were chosen, the list was referred to the SCCT Board of Directors, which then reviewed the draft list, offered feedback and narrowed the questions down to the five most important consideration points through online voting. The draft was returned to the working group panel, which fleshed out the chosen recommendations and cited its supporting evidence from currently published literature. The SCCT’s Board of Directors and Executive Board each then reviewed the final five items and implemented another round of edits before voting for final review and approval.

SCCT’s bylaws and its disclosure and conflict of interest policy can be found at www.scct.org.

Sources

1.
Budoff MJ, Achenbach S, Blumenthal RS, Carr JJ, Goldin JG, Greenland P, Guerci AD, Lima JAC, Rader DJ, Rubin GD, Shaw LJ, Wiegers SE. Assessment of coronary artery disease by cardiac computed tomography: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association Committee on Cardiovascular Imaging and Intervention, Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention, and Committee on Cardiac Imaging, Council on Clinical Cardiology. [Internet]. Circulation. 2006 [cited 2012 Nov 9]. p. 1761–91. Available from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17015792.

Greenland P, Bonow RO, Brundage BH, Budoff MJ, Eisenberg MJ, Grundy SM, Lauer MS, Post WS, Raggi P, Redberg RF, Rodgers GP, Shaw LJ, Taylor AJ, Weintraub WS. ACCF/AHA 2007 clinical expert consensus document on coronary artery calcium scoring by computed tomography in global cardiovascular risk assessment and in evaluation of patients with chest pain: A report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation Clinical Expert Consensus Task Force (ACCF/AHA Writing Committee to Update the 2000 Expert Consensus Document on Electron Beam Computed Tomography) developed in collaboration with the Society of Atherosclerosis Imaging and Prevention and the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. J Amer Coll Cardio [Internet]. 2007 Jan 23 [cited 2012 Nov 19];49(3):378–402. Available from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17239724.
2.
Fleisher LA, Beckman JA, Brown KA, Calkins H, Chaikof E, Fleischmann KE, Freeman WK, Froehlich JB, Kasper EK, Kersten JR, Riegel B, Robb JF, Smith SC, Jacobs AC, Adams CD, Anderson JL, Antman EM, Buller CE, Creager MA, Ettinger SM, Faxon DP, Fuster V, Halperin JL, Hiratzka LF, Hunt SA, Lytle BW, Mishimura R, Ornato JP, Page RL, Tarkington LG, Yancy CW. ACC/AHA 2007 guidelines on perioperative cardiovascular evaluation and care for noncardiac surgery: A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Writing Committee to Revise the 2002 Guidelines on Perioperative Cardiovascular Evaluation for Noncardiac Surgery): Developed in collaboration with the American Society of Echoca rdiography, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, Heart Rhythm Society, Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology, and Society for Vascular Surgery. Circulation [Internet]. 2007 Oct 23 [cited 2012 Oct 26];116(17):e418–99. Available from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17901357.
3.
Budoff MJ, Achenbach S, Blumenthal RS, Carr JJ, Goldin JG, Greenland P, Guerci AD, Lima JAC, Rader DJ, Rubin GD, Shaw LJ, Wiegers SE. Assessment of coronary artery disease by cardiac computed tomography: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association Committee on Cardiovascular Imaging and Intervention, Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention, and Committee on Cardiac Imaging, Council on Clinical Cardiology. [Internet]. Circulation. 2006 [cited 2012 Nov 9]. p. 1761–91. Available from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17015792.

Shaw LJ, Raggi P, Schisterman E, Berman DS, Callister TQ. Prognostic value of cardiac risk factors and coronary artery calcium screening for all-cause mortality. Radiology [Internet]. 2003 Sep;228(3):826–33. Available from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12869688.
4.
Choi EK, Choi S, Rivera JJ, Nasir K, Chang SA, Chun EJ, Kim HK, Choi DJ, Blumenthal RS, Chang HJ. Coronary computed tomography angiography as a screening tool for the detection of occult coronary artery disease in asymptomatic individuals. J Am Coll Cardiol [Internet]. 2008;52:357-365. Available from: content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1139078.

Taylor AJ, Cerqueira M, Hodgson JM, Mark D, Min J, O’Gara P, Rubin JD. ACCF/SCCT/ACR/AHA/ASE/ASNC/NASCI/SCAI/SCMR 2010 appropriate use criteria for cardiac computed tomography. A report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation Appropriate Use Criteria Task Force, the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, the American College of Radiology, the American Heart Association, the American Society of Echocardiography, the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, the North American Society for Cardiovascular Imaging, the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, and the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. J Amer Coll Cardio [Internet]. 2010 Nov 23 [cited 2012 Nov 5] ;56(22):1864–94. Available from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2108772.
5.
Goldstein JA, Chinnaiyan KM, Abidov A, Achenbach S, Berman DS, Hayes SW, Hoffmann U, Lesser JR, Mikati IA, O’Neil BJ, Shaw LJ, Shen MYH, Valeti US, Raff GL. The CT-STAT (Coronary Computed Tomographic Angiography for Systematic Triage of Acute Chest Pain Patients to Treatment) trial. J Amer Coll Cardio [Internet]. 2011 Sep 27 [cited 2012 Nov 28];58(14):1414–22. Available from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21939822.

Hoffmann U, Truong QA, Schoenfeld DA, Chou ET, Woodard PK, Nagurney JT, Pope JH, Hauser TH, White CS, Weiner SG, Kalanjian S, Mullins ME, Mikati I, Peacock WF, Zakroysky P, Hayden D, Goehler A, Lee H, Gazelle GS, Wiviott SD, Fleg JL, Udelson JE. Coronary CT angiography versus standard evaluation in acute chest pain. N Eng J Med [Internet]. [cited 2012 Dec 7]. Available from: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1201161.

Litt HI, Gatsonis C, Snyder B, Singh H, Miller CD, Entrikin DW, Leaming JM, Gavin LJ, Pacella CB, Hollander JE. CT angiography for safe discharge of patients with possible acute coronary syndromes. N Eng J Med [Internet]. 2012 Apr 12;366(15):1393–403. Available from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22449295.