23 Jan FFRct Technology Can Eliminate Need For Coronary Angiogram In Some Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Rabbat
Cardiologist Mark Rabbat, MD, FSCCT
Who pioneered the use of FFRct at Loyola Medicine and was first author of an international expert panel of leading cardiologists and radiologists from centers in the United States, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands on how to interpret and report the tests published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the scope of the problem?
Response: Coronary artery disease is a very large healthcare burden. Over sixteen million individuals in the United States have coronary artery disease. Coronary artery disease may result in your heart not getting enough blood and increases your risk of a heart attack.
Historically, we have been faced with either using tests we knew were not always accurate or putting a patient through an invasive angiogram just to determine whether they would need another invasive procedure to restore blood flow. The CT-derived fractional flow reserve (FFRct) analysis is the first technology that bridges the gap between the non-invasive and invasive tests within one platform. Any patient with symptoms such as chest pain, chest tightness, fatigue, or shortness of breath without known coronary artery disease may be a candidate for the FFRct study.
MedicalResearch.com: How does it work?
Response: FFRct is a very large breakthrough. We’ve been performing invasive angiograms on far too many patients only to find no evidence of obstructive coronary artery disease and this needs to change. In my practice, for many of my patients, a diagnostic strategy using FFRct safely eliminates the need for an invasive angiogram.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?
Response: I believe FFRct has the potential to completely revolutionize the way we diagnose and manage coronary artery disease. I have seen many patients whose prior work up could not find any coronary artery disease. With the aid of FFR-CT they were appropriately diagnosed and managed, and are now feeling better. I am hopeful that the collective wisdom of the group in this paper will serve as a great reference and addition to the literature for integrating FFRct into clinical practice internationally.
Citations:
J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr. 2017 Sep – Oct;11(5):383-388. doi: 10.1016/j.jcct.2017.06.002. Epub 2017 Jun 23.
Rabbat MG1, Berman DS2, Kern M3, Raff G4, Chinnaiyan K4, Koweek L5, Shaw LJ6, Blanke P7, Scherer M8, Jensen JM9, Lesser J10, Nørgaard BL9, Pontone G11, De Bruyne B12, Bax JJ13, Leipsic J7.
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Last Updated on January 23, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD