When to Use CT Scans to Diagnose Heart Troubles?
According to the Boston Globe new, faster 64-slice CT scanners are selling fast into hospitals, despite their $1.5+ million price tag. For example 800 units of GE Healthcare’s LightSpeed VCT were sold in a year. Among new use scenarios, the devices let doctors diagnose coronary artery plaque within an hour after a fast, painless scan rather than a cardiac catheterization done under sedation. However these CT scans require a higher radiation dosage than is necessary for chest x-rays. Insurance coverage of cardiac CT scans is not yet uniform at a national level but a committee is about to evaluate them in order to advise Medicare on reimbursment policy.
Now the question is, when is it appropriate to use the devices for cardiac diagnosis purposes? Probably not on healthy patients because small plaque spots might be spotted in arteries but in the absence of symptoms, it’s hard for doctors to interpret them. Patients might then seek unwarranted treatment. Even among patients with heart disease symptoms such as chest pain, more guidelines are necessary. Very acute chest pain might indicate a heart attack is happening and a CT scan at this point might waste time without providing useful information. Age, sex and various risk factors are to be taken into account. Cardiac CT for calcium scoring could help take prevention steps and save lives but in some cases these exams don’t provide conclusive evidence that treatment is actually needed. At the very least, used on the right patients, these scans could help keep ER less crowded thanks to their fast exam and result turnaround.
April 30, 2006 Related topics: New Technology & Innovation, Imaging, Cardiology, Evaluation & assessment