A long-term follow-up study involving electron-beam CT scans has concluded that the coronary artery scans are "highly predictive" of future heart attacks and add valuable information to a patient's work-up.

In the study, which was recently published in the AHA journal Circulation, researchers compared the status of 288 patients who had had both coronary angiography and an EBCT scan two to ten years earlier. They found that only the patient's age and the scan's coronary artery calcification (CAC) score reliably predicted future cardiac events. The 22 patients who had had a heart attack had higher CAC scores; 71% of the heart attacks occurred in patients with CAC scores higher than 100, while only one event occurred among the patients with the lowest scores.

The study's authors suggest that the coronary artery scan may help identify the need for aggressive medical therapy and regular patient follow-up.

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Sources:

• Keelan PC, Bielak LF, Ashai K, et al. Long-term prognostic value of coronary calcification detected by electron-beam computed tomography in patients undergoing coronary angiography. Circulation, July 24, 2001;104:412. (Abs.)
• AHA publishes results of long-term, follow-up study comparing Imatron EBT coronary artery scanning and coronary angiography. Imatron, July 30, 2001.