Coronary artery diseasePresence and Severity of Noncalcified Coronary Plaque on 64-Slice Computed Tomographic Coronary Angiography in Patients With Zero and Low Coronary Artery Calcium
Section snippets
Methods
From January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005, 1,009 consecutive patients underwent CAC scoring followed immediately by 64-slice CTCA at a Los Angeles metropolitan community medical center. At the time of imaging, a written questionnaire was used to record each patient’s medical history (coronary disease, diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, smoking history, and family history), symptoms (chest pain and dyspnea), and medication use. Response rates were 78% (family history) to 90% (chest
Results
Of the 554 patients analyzed, 416 (241 men and 175 women) were classified as having 0 CAC, and 138 patients (117 men and 21 women) were classified as low CAC. Table 1 lists demographic characteristics of these patients. Women were older than men in the 2 groups and were more likely to be in the 0-CAC group (51% vs 38%). Patients in the low-CAC group were older and more likely to have traditional risk factors. Patients in the 0-CAC group were more likely to report chest pain. None of these
Discussion
Our study represents the largest reported experience to date with 64-slice CTCA in outpatients with 0 and low CAC and is the first study to report prevalence of detectable NCAP in this population. We believe that using 64-slice CTCA to quantify NCAP burden was acceptable for 2 reasons beyond its safety as a noninvasive test. First, CTCA has the capability to capture the early phases of atherosclerotic coronary disease, when sensitivity of conventional coronary angiography may be compromised by
Acknowledgment
We give sincere thanks to Karen I. Berliner, PhD, for providing research and statistical consultation and Gerald Friede, MS, for providing 64-slice CTCA imaging expertise.
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This study was funded internally by Westside Medical Imaging, Beverly Hills, California.