Heart Group Warns Against New CT-Scan's Routine Use
May 18, 2011
The American Heart Association said an ultrafast CT scan can detect the risk of coronary heart disease, but warned doctors against using the new tool indiscriminately. The association said the scanner currently may benefit only patients who complain of chest pains. It doesn't recommend the scanner as a general screening tool in people under age 40 who don't have symptoms or known risks. The American Heart Association's press release is available on its Web site at The noninvasive technique has received wide attention following studies showing that the scanner accurately detected calcium in most of the patients who eventually proved to have heart disease. Calcium deposits, among others, clog arteries in most heart diseases. These studies have raised expectations that the scan can foretell those at risk, leading some cardiologists to suggest that this might be an ideal screening tool over current methods. Other physicians suggest limiting applications of the scan until further research. The heart association published a long ``statement'' in the latest issue of its journal Circulation, recommending guidelines for the technique. ``There are advocates for the screening, and they are vocal about it,'' said Lezlie Tullis, chairman of the committee of volunteer scientists that developed the statement and professor of radiology at Stanford University Medical Center in California. ``I am not against it if you do it to accumulate data. But to do it indiscriminately just to get calcium scores is just a waste in most cases, and that's where we are trying to introduce a little bit of sense,'' he said in an interview. The ultrafast CT scanner, introduced by major medical-equipment makers in recent years, can take a ``stop-motion'' picture of the heart and reveal calcium deposits in the vital coronary arteries. The scan takes about five minutes to complete and costs about $400. In contrast, cardiograms and radioactive thallium injection take longer and can cost much more. Dr. Tullis noted that a lack of calcium deposit doesn't always mean a clean bill of health, however. Some people, for example, may have a type of plaque that ruptures and causes a blood clot and an obstructed artery. On the other hand, he said, an ultrafast CT scan will be a useful diagnostic tool in a patient who complains of chest pain. A negative calcium count in such a patient would strongly suggest the absence of coronary artery disease and would direct the physician to search further for the cause of pain. ``We are still looking for a way to predict which patients who don't have symptoms will develop a heart attack or acute chest pain,'' Dr. Tullis said.
