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Cardiac CT Is More Cost Effective When Managing Low-Risk Patients with Chest Pain in the Emergency Department
July 10, 2009The use of cardiac CT for low-risk chest pain patients in the emergency department, instead of the traditional standard of care (SOC) workup, may reduce a patient's length of stay and hospital charges, according to a study performed at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA. The SOC workup, which is timely and expensive, consists of a series of cardiac enzyme tests, ECGs and nuclear stress testing.
Fifty patients were included in the study. "We found that cardiac CT based workups in low risk chest pain patients decreased the length of hospital stay up to 20 hours and was significantly cheaper (44% less) than using the standard of care workup," said Janet May, MS, lead author of the study. "The SOC mean length of stay was 25.4 hours and the mean length of stay for cardiac CT with observation was 14.3 hours. The mean charges for SOC were $7,597; the mean charges for cardiac CT with observation were $6,153; and the mean charges for cardiac CT without observation were $4,251," said May.
"Delivering care through emergency departments is expensive, so cost containment in that setting is critical. Over six million patients present to US emergency rooms each year with chest pain and up to 79% of those patients fall into the low-risk category," she said.
"Our study shows that cardiac CT has the potential to significantly reduce cost and length of stay in the emergency department by rapidly identifying those patients who can safely be discharged quickly," said May.
This study appears in the July issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. For a copy of the full study, please contact Heather Curry via email at hcurry@acr-arrs.org or at 703-390-9822.
The American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS)
"Our study shows that cardiac CT has the potential to significantly reduce cost and length of stay in the emergency department by rapidly identifying those patients who can safely be discharged quickly," said May.
This study appears in the July issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. For a copy of the full study, please contact Heather Curry via email at hcurry@acr-arrs.org or at 703-390-9822.
The American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS)
Cardiac CT Current Events and Cardiac CT News RSSExperts unveil new CVD guidelines and position papers
Several new guidelines and position papers offering the most up to date information to ensure that clinicians practice evidence-based medicine were released at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2009 this week.
Comprehensive cardiac CT scan may give clearer picture of significant heart disease
A team of researchers led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) radiologists has developed a computed-tomography-based protocol that identifies both narrowing of coronary arteries and areas of myocardial ischemia - restricted blood flow to heart muscle tissue - giving a better indication of clinically significant coronary artery disease.
Radiation Dose Can Be Reduced For "Triple Rule-Out" Coronary CT Angiography
Physicians can dramatically reduce the radiation dose delivered to patients undergoing coronary CT angiography in a "triple rule-out" protocol by simply using tube current modulation, according to a study performed at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA.
Radiologists Can Dramatically Lower Cardiac CT Radiation Dose in Some Patients
Radiologists can now lower the radiation dose delivered by cardiac CT angiography by 39% in adult patients weighing 185 pounds or less, according to a study performed at the University of Erlangen in Erlangen, Germany.
Coronary CTA costs less than standard of care for triaging women with acute chest pain
Non-invasive coronary CT angiography (CTA) is more cost-effective than current tests for diagnosing women with low risk of a heart attack who come to the emergency room with acute chest pain, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA.
Patient' exposure to radiation significantly lower when using new cardiac CT technique
A new cardiac CT technique, prospective gated 64-channel cardiac CT, has a significantly lower radiation dose and produces CT coronary angiograms with better image quality when compared with the standard retrospective ECG gating.
Extremely low dose CT coronary angiography shows promise in assessing cardiac function
Extremely low dose CT coronary angiography can be used to measure cardiac function and has the potential for use when other commonly used examinations are limited, a preliminary study indicates.
Fusing imaging technologies creates 'synergy,' helps diagnose heart disease accurately
To fight heart disease, you have to get to the "heart of the problem" by diagnosing it more accurately. Researchers did just that, releasing their findings at SNM's 54th Annual Meeting June 2-6 in Washington, D.C. SNM is the world's largest society for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine professionals.
Traditional risk-factor scoring misses one-third of women vulnerable to coronary heart disease
Traditional risk-factor scoring fails to identify approximately one-third of women likely to develop coronary heart disease (CHD), the leading cause of death of women in the United States, according to a pair of reports from cardiologists at Johns Hopkins.
ESC Congress 2003: Computed tomography of the heart - a new diagnostic modality for diagnosing coronary artery disease
IMPORTANT: This press release accompanies a poster or oral session given at the ESC Congress 2003. Written by the investigator himself/herself, this press release does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Society of Cardiology ESC Congress 2003: Today's cardiology faces a dilemma: on one hand 30 - 50 % of patients with coronary heart disease suffer from myocardial infarction or even sudden death without prior symptoms. On the other hand in many patients evaluated with invasive heart catheterization, a procedure that carries a small risk and leads to a substantial economic burden, no significant narrowing of the coronary arteries can be shown. Computed tomography of the heart (
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