Computed tomography is nearly as effective as the invasive and expensive surgical methods typically used to diagnose coronary blockages, according to new research by Johns Hopkins cardiologists.
The CT scans are almost as reliable and accurate as cardiac catheters - the current standard of practice - in evaluating chest pains and other serious heart symptoms, the researchers said yesterday at the American Heart Association's annual conference in Orlando, Fla.
"This is a good way to actually see the blockages without having to do the invasive procedure," said Dr. Julie Miller, who led the study at Hopkins.
The scientists said widespread use of heart scans could reduce catheterizations by at least 25 percent. But other doctors disagreed; they warned that expanding the use of CT scans was premature and might expose patients to X-rays unnecessarily.
At the same meeting, a separate Hopkins group reported positive findings in another heart-related medical technology - defibrillators mounted in public places.
They found that public access to the devices - which shock the hearts of people in cardiac arrest - saves hundreds of lives every year, even when the equipment is used by untrained bystanders.
The study on CT scans was led by Miller, a Hopkins cardiologist who said the team of researchers from nine medical centers in seven countries was the first to demonstrate on a large scale that a scanning technology typically used on other parts of the body can be applied to the heart - an organ difficult to take pictures of because it is in constant motion.
"Many cardiologists don't believe this type of technology works," Miller said in an interview from Florida. "We've shown here in a very rigorous fashion that the diagnostic ability of CT scans is very good."
Widespread use of heart CT scans - essentially high-quality, three-dimensional X-rays - could reduce the need for catheterizations to diagnose heart blockages, she said.
About 40,000 diagnostic catheterizations were performed in Maryland hospitals in 2006, according to the Maryland Health Care Commission.
Catheterization, in which doctors insert a thin tube into a blood vessel in the groin area and thread it up to the heart and its arteries, would still be required to perform balloon angioplasty or to insert a stent, should either be required.
Both techniques are used to unblock clogged arteries without open-heart surgery.
