European Heart Journal Advance Access originally published online on June 29, 2009
European Heart Journal 2009 30(21):2622-2629; doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehp272
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Incremental prognostic value of multi-slice computed tomography coronary angiography over coronary artery calcium scoring in patients with suspected coronary artery disease
1 Department of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands
2 The Interuniversity Cardiology Institute of the Netherlands, Utrecht, The Netherlands
3 Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
4 Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
5 Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
6 Department of Cardiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
7 Zurich Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Received 26 November 2008; revised 25 May 2009; accepted 11 June 2009; online publish-ahead-of-print 29 June 2009.
* Corresponding author. Tel: +31 71 5262020, Fax: +31 71 5266809, Email: j.j.bax{at}lumc.nl
Aims: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between calcium scoring (CS) and multi-slice computed tomography coronary angiography (MSCTA) and to determine if MSCTA has an incremental prognostic value to CS.
Methods and results: In 432 patients (59% male, age 58 ± 11 years) referred for cardiac evaluation owing to suspected coronary artery disease (CAD), CS and 64-slice MSCTA were performed. The following events were combined in a composite endpoint: all-cause mortality, non-fatal infarction, and unstable angina requiring revascularization. CS was 0 in 147 (34%) patients, CS 1–99 was present in 122 (28%), CS 100–399 in 75 (17%), CS 400–999 in 56 (13%), and CS
1000 in 32 (7%). MSCTA was normal in 133 (31%) patients, MSCTA 30–50% stenosis was observed in 190 (44%), and MSCTA
50% stenosis in 109 (25%). During follow-up [median 670 days (25th–75th percentile: 418–895)], an event occurred in 21 patients (4.9%). After multivariate correction for CS, MSCTA
50% stenosis, the number of diseased segments, obstructive segments, and non-calcified plaques were independent predictors with an incremental prognostic value to CS.
Conclusion: MSCTA provides additional information to CS regarding stenosis severity and plaque composition. This additional information was shown to translate into incremental prognostic value over CS.
Key Words: Imaging Atherosclerosis Prognosis