Study Confirms Radiologists Needed to Interpret Advanced Cardiac CT Scans
May 17, 2005
Contact: Shawn Farley
(703) 648-8936
E-mail: shawnf@acr.org
Half of Cardiac CT Scans Reveal Abnormalities Unrelated to the Heart
RESTON, Va. – Researchers at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center recently stated that more than half of patients who underwent advanced cardiac CT scans, known as CT coronary angiography, or CTCA, experienced abnormalities outside the heart, many of which were considered life threatening. Researchers concluded that cardiac CT patients need the services of highly trained radiologists to accurately complete diagnosis.
These findings echo that of a similar study conducted by cardiologists,1 which also confirmed that half of the cardiac CT patients involved in that study experienced noncardiac findings and needed a radiologist's review to complete diagnosis.
"Physicians in other disciplines do not undergo the rigorous training and testing in diagnostic radiology that radiologists do, and could therefore miss abnormalities altogether or misinterpret abnormalities that they do find," said University of Michigan lead study author Smita Patel, MD.
The ACR recently issued a Clinical Statement on Noninvasive Cardiac Imaging online that will be published in the June issues of the Journal of the American College of Radiology and the journal Radiology. It calls for specialized training, education, and levels of experience for both radiologists who read CTCA images and the technologists who conduct the scans.
The University of Michigan study was presented on May 16 at the ARRS annual meeting in New Orleans.
Reference:
1 Shafique I, Shapiro E, Stafford S, et al. Noncoronary findings on multidetector CT coronary angiography. Presented at: Annual Meeting of the American Heart Association; November 8, 2004.
To arrange an interview with Patel or another ACR member, please contact ACR Public Relations Manager Shawn Farley at (703) 648-8936 or via e-mail at shawnf@acr.org.
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The ACR is a national professional organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists, with programs focusing on the practice of radiology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.