CardioExchange Archive

May 23rd, 2011

What Is the Impact of Screening Low-Risk Patients with CT Angiography?

Larry Husten, PHD

In a study published online in Archives of Internal Medicine, John McEvoy and colleagues examine the impact of screening low-risk patients with coronary CT angiography (CCTA). They compared 1000 South Korean patients who underwent CCTA with 1000 matched controls. CCTA identified 215 people with coronary atherosclerosis. At 90 days and at 18 months, statins and aspirin […]

---

March 4th, 2011

Legislating CVD Screening Tests in Texas

Amit Khera, MD, MSc

Imaging tests for cardiovascular risk assessment hold great promise.  Both coronary artery calcium (CAC) scanning and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) testing have been shown in multiple prospective studies to predict cardiovascular outcomes and, more recently, to improve risk reclassification based upon the Framingham Risk Score.  Coupled with frustrations about the performance of the Framingham Risk […]

---

January 24th, 2011

Poor Justification for Compulsory Angiography Before Vascular Surgery

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

I recently heard a physician quote a paper from JACC to justify pursuing revascularization in an asymptomatic patient who was scheduled for major vascular surgery. This article is worth a close look in your journal club, even though it was published in 2009. In their discussion, the authors summarize their findings as follows: “For patients in […]

---