21 Jun Stress Echocardiography vs Coronary CT To Evaluate Chest Pain in ER

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Levsky

Jeffrey M. Levsky, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Radiology
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine (Cardiology)
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Montefiore Medical Center

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Millions of Americans are evaluated each year for acute chest pain in the Emergency Department.  There are multiple modalities that can be used to triage these patients and there have only been a few studies comparing different imaging methods.

We chose to study Stress Echocardiography and Coronary CT Angiography, two exams that have not been compared directly in this population.  We found that Stress Echocardiography was able to discharge a higher proportion of patients in a shorter amount of time as compared to Coronary CTA. 

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: Stress echo is a viable alternative modality for Emergency Department imaging and should be a consideration when deciding on an exam for chest pain patients.  There are multiple appropriate options for imaging early in the chest pain evaluation process.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: It would be great to see a larger, multi-center trial that assesses emergency chest pain imaging in a pragmatic, real-world setting.  There would potentially be an arm of patients assessed by biomarkers (such as high-sensitivity Troponin) only and other patients may receive imaging. 

Disclosures: Our work was funded by the American Heart Association.  I have no other relevant disclosures.

Citations:

Levsky JM, Haramati LB, Spevack DM, et al. Coronary CT angiography versus stress echocardiography in acute chest pain: a randomized controlled trial. J Am Coll Cardiol Img. 2018;Epub ahead of print.

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Last Updated on June 21, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD