Discriminative Power of the HEART Score for Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease in Acute Chest Pain Patients Referred for CCTA.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the ability of the HEART score to predict the presence of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) determined by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and its ability to predict the occurrence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in patients referred for CCTA after emergency department (ED) presentation. METHODS: From December 2011 to August 2014, 710 ED patients with chest pain who underwent CCTA within 30 days were included. The HEART score was retrospectively calculated and patients were followed for MACE, comprised of death, myocardial infarction, and revascularization. Association of CAD at CCTA in the different categories of the HEART score was analyzed using χ test. The performance of the HEART score in discriminating between those with and without obstructive CAD was evaluated by receiver operating characteristics. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to assess MACE-free survival stratified by HEART-score categories. RESULTS: During median follow-up of 826 days (interquartile range: 563-1056), MACE occurred in 46 (6.5%) patients; 3 (0.4%) myocardial infarction, 8 (1.1%) death, and 36 (5.1%) revascularizations. A low HEART score was a significant predictor for MACE-free survival (P = 0.010). CCTA revealed obstructive CAD in 11.7% of patients, with no significant difference between patients with a low and intermediate/high HEART score, respectively 10.7% and 13.2% (P = 0.29). The ability of the HEART score to identify obstructive CAD was poor with an AUC of the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.53. CONCLUSION: The HEART score does not adequately identify patients with obstructive CAD at CCTA. It does however predict occurrence of MACE in medium-term follow-up. Excluding patients from additional testing based solely on a low HEART score may lead to suboptimal patient management. CCTA had important implications on patient management and may be a more appropriate tool to further stratify risk in ED chest pain patients.

Diagnostic and Therapeutic Usefulness of Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography in Out-Clinic Patients Referred for Chest Pain.

Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is widely used to exclude coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with low-to-intermediate pretest probability (PTP) of obstructive CAD. The aim of our study was to investigate the reclassification by CCTA and the implications of CCTA results on management because limited studies exist on these subjects; 1,560 patients with chest pain without a history of CAD and with low or intermediate PTP of CAD referred for CCTA from the out-patient clinic were prospectively included. PTP was defined by the Duke Clinical Score as either low (<15%), low-intermediate (15% to 50%), or high-intermediate (50% to 85%). Distribution of CCTA results among the categories of PTP of CAD and the influence of CCTA results on management were analyzed. CCTA revealed obstructive CAD in 7%, 15%, and 23% of cases, in patients with low, low-intermediate, and high-intermediate PTP, respectively; 855 of 1,031 patients (83%) with intermediate PTP of CAD showed no obstructive CAD on CCTA and were consequently reclassified. Management changes after CCTA occurred in 689 patients (44%). In 633 patients (41%), medication was altered and 135 (9%) were referred for invasive coronary angiography. Treatment with statin was initiated in 442 (28%) and stopped in 71 patients (5%). Aspirin was initiated in 192 (12%) and stopped in 139 patients (9%). In conclusion, in a routine clinical cohort, CCTA resulted in reclassification in most patients. Furthermore, our study suggests that the Duke Clinical Score overestimates the probability of obstructive CAD compared with CCTA findings. Finally, CCTA results have implications on patient management, with medication changes in 41% of patients.

N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide identifies patients with chest pain at high long-term cardiovascular risk.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the long-term prognostic value of N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in low-risk patients with chest pain. METHODS: Between June 1997 and January 2000, a standard rule-out protocol was performed in patients presenting to the emergency department within 6 hours of onset of chest pain with a normal or nondiagnostic electrocardiogram (ECG) on admission at the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam, VU University Medical Center Amsterdam and Medical Center Alkmaar, The Netherlands. Patients with acute coronary syndrome were identified by troponin T, recurrent angina, and serial ECGs. CRP and NT-proBNP on admission were measured using standardized methods. RESULTS: A total of 524 patients were included (145 with acute coronary syndrome and 379 with rule-out acute coronary syndrome). Long-term follow-up was successfully carried out in 96% of the study population. Death occurred in 78 patients (15%), 43 (11%) in the rule-out acute coronary syndrome group and 35 (24%) in the acute coronary syndrome group (P<.001). In the rule-out acute coronary syndrome group, 21 patients (42%) died of a cardiovascular cause compared with 24 patients (69%) in the acute coronary syndrome group (P<.001). In multivariate Cox regression analysis, age more than 65 years, previous myocardial infarction, known chronic heart failure, a nondiagnostic ECG on admission, and elevated NT-proBNP levels (>87 pg/mL, as derived from the receiver operating characteristic curve) were independent predictors of long-term cardiovascular mortality in the rule-out acute coronary syndrome group. In the acute coronary syndrome group, these predictors were age more than 65 years, documented coronary artery disease, and elevated NT-proBNP levels. Elevated levels of CRP were an independent predictor for cardiovascular mortality in patients with rule-out acute coronary syndrome at 3-year follow-up only. In patients with rule-out acute coronary syndrome with normal CRP and NT-proBNP levels, the cardiovascular mortality incidence rate was 4.7 per 1000 person-years, compared with a death rate of 20 in patients with both biomarkers elevated, which was comparable to the 17.9 per 1000 person-years incidence rate in patients with acute coronary syndrome. CONCLUSION: A positive biomarker panel discriminates patients with rule-out acute coronary syndrome chest pain with a normal or nondiagnostic ECG who have a high risk for long-term cardiovascular mortality.