National trends among radiologists in reporting coronary artery calcium in non-gated chest computed tomography.
Int J Cardiovasc Imaging
; 33(2): 251-257, 2017 Feb.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-27677761
ABSTRACT
Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is a known risk factor for adverse outcomes in the general population and in patients with coronary artery disease. We performed a survey of United States radiologists to evaluate the trends in reporting the presence or absence of CAC on NCCT examinations. An 11 multiple-choice questionnaire was distributed to members of the American College of Radiology, and 530 members participated in the study. Eighty-seven percent of the analyzed group report the presence of CAC on standard CT scans of the chest, and approximately half them (52 %) use a qualitative modifier. Only 32 % of cardiac imagers were aware of the published data correlating qualitative and quantitative calcium scores on non-gated chest CT examinations compared to 17 % of non-cardiac imagers. We believe that subjective or objective grading of coronary calcified plaque burden on standard chest CT exams is warranted as it may not only help risk-stratify patients, but also may eliminate the need for dedicated CACS in many patients and may be useful in treatment guidance.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Coronary Artery Disease
/
Practice Patterns, Physicians'
/
Radiography, Thoracic
/
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
/
Coronary Vessels
/
Incidental Findings
/
Vascular Calcification
/
Radiologists
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Guideline
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Int J Cardiovasc Imaging
Journal subject:
DIAGNOSTICO POR IMAGEM
Year:
2017
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: