Prognostic value of coronary CT

Abstract

Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) with the latest-generation scanners (64-and 128-slice) allows evaluation of the entire coronary tree (main vessels and their collateral and marginal branches). Validation studies performed to date have focused on patient populations with a high pretest likelihood of coronary disease (range: 50-80%). However, several concepts that conflict with those results are emerging in clinical practice, influencing the indications and recommendations for the clinical use of MDCT. Both the recent guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology and a recent consensus statement on the appropriateness criteria for cardiac CT and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suggest that the appropriate use of MDCT includes patients at low to intermediate risk and with a doubtful, unfeasible, or inconclusive stress test.