CT scan may detect blocked arteries

United States, November 27: A new study claims high-tech CT scan devices are effective in diagnosing, tracing and gauging blood vessel blockages. This method is almost as effective, if not equally, as the typical method of detecting blocked arteries.

64-slice images of arteries are produced by these high-tech CT devices which help experts track the blockages in arteries. These scans may particularly be of more use in cardiovascular care.

Dr. Julie M. Miller, assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, opined that as per the study findings, the scans produced by high-tech CT devices are of vital importance owing to their high degree of diagnostic accuracy in determining the heart blockages in heart patients.

“Patients do not undergo the risk, even though it is small, of angiography," and moreover, it is a non-invasive procedure, she added.

On the contrary, Dr. Rita F. Redberg, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and a co-author of an editorial in the journal alleged that there is no solid proof to confirm the advantages of these CT scans.

She further said, "In general, there should be evidence of benefit before there is widespread use."

A report published in the Nov. 27 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine claimed that conventional coronary angiography has its own importance and given the current situation, conventional coronary angiography cannot be replaced by multi-detector CT angiography.

According to Miller, the study revealed that 64-CT scans were very helpful in detecting the patients who were in need to undergo angioplasty and bypass procedures depending on the condition of their arteries. Also, 64-CT scan method has much more diagnostic accuracy in comparison with other tests available.

The study involved 291 people with coronary artery blockages who took both 64-CT and conventional coronary angiography and it was found that CT scans could correctly detected 84 percent of the cases who needed to undergo angioplasty and bypass procedures while conventional coronary angiography could detect 82 percent of such cases who needed to take treatment.

Miller however, supports the idea of detecting blockages of the arteries through 64-CT scan method.

Before the study was conducted there was no evidence of effectiveness of CT scan method in detecting the blocked arteries but now that the findings of the study are out people can use it to check if they are really in need of any treatment or not.