Closing Gaps in Essential Chest Pain Care Through Accreditation

2021 AHA/ACC/ASE/CHEST/SAEM/SCCT/SCMR Guideline for the Evaluation and Diagnosis of Chest Pain: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines

AIM

This clinical practice guideline for the evaluation and diagnosis of chest pain provides recommendations and algorithms for clinicians to assess and diagnose chest pain in adult patients.

METHODS

A comprehensive literature search was conducted from November 11, 2017, to May 1, 2020, encompassing randomized and nonrandomized trials, observational studies, registries, reviews, and other evidence conducted on human subjects that were published in English from PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Collaboration, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reports, and other relevant databases. Additional relevant studies, published through April 2021, were also considered.

STRUCTURE

Chest pain is a frequent cause for emergency department visits in the United States. The "2021 AHA/ACC/ASE/CHEST/SAEM/SCCT/SCMR Guideline for the Evaluation and Diagnosis of Chest Pain" provides recommendations based on contemporary evidence on the assessment and evaluation of chest pain. This guideline presents an evidence-based approach to risk stratification and the diagnostic workup for the evaluation of chest pain. Cost-value considerations in diagnostic testing have been incorporated, and shared decision-making with patients is recommended.

The Impact of American College of Cardiology Chest Pain Center Accreditation on Guideline Recommended Acute Myocardial Infarction Management

BACKGROUND

Whether American College of Cardiology (ACC) Chest Pain Center (CPC) accreditation alters guidelines adherence rates is unclear.

METHODS

We analyzed patient-level, hospital-reported, quality metrics for myocardial infarction (MI) patients from 644 hospitals collected in the ACC's Chest Pain-MI Registry from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020, stratified by CPC accreditation for >1 year.

RESULTS

Of 192,374 MI patients, 67,462 (35.1%) received care at an accredited hospital. In general, differences in guideline adherence rates between accredited and nonaccredited hospitals were numerically small, although frequently significant. Patients at accredited hospitals were more likely to undergo coronary angiography (98.6% vs. 97.9%, P < 0.0001), percutaneous coronary intervention for NSTEMI (55.4% vs. 52.3%, P < 0.0001), have overall revascularization for NSTEMI (63.5% vs. 61.0%, P < 0.0001), and receive P2Y12 inhibitor on arrival (63.5% vs. 60.2%, P < 0.0001). Nonaccredited hospitals more ECG within 10 minutes (62.3% vs. 60.4%, P < 0.0001) and first medical contact to device activation ≤90 minutes (66.8% vs. 64.8%, P < 0.0001). Accredited hospitals had uniformly higher discharge medication guideline adherence, with patients more likely receiving aspirin (97.8% vs. 97.4%, P < 0.0001), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (46.7% vs. 45.3%, P < 0.0001), beta blocker (96.6% vs. 96.2%, P < 0.0001), P2Y12 inhibitor (90.3% vs. 89.2%, P < 0.0001), and statin (97.8% vs. 97.5%, P < 0.0001). Interaction by accredited status was significant only for length of stay, which was slightly shorter at accredited facilities for specific subgroups.

CONCLUSIONS

ACC CPC accreditation was associated with small consistent improvement in adherence to guideline-based treatment recommendations of catheter-based care (catheterization and PCI) for NSTEMI and discharge medications, and shorter hospital stays.

2021 AHA/ACC/ASE/CHEST/SAEM/SCCT/SCMR Guideline for the Evaluation and Diagnosis of Chest Pain: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines

AIM

This clinical practice guideline for the evaluation and diagnosis of chest pain provides recommendations and algorithms for clinicians to assess and diagnose chest pain in adult patients.

METHODS

A comprehensive literature search was conducted from November 11, 2017, to May 1, 2020, encompassing randomized and nonrandomized trials, observational studies, registries, reviews, and other evidence conducted on human subjects that were published in English from PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Collaboration, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reports, and other relevant databases. Additional relevant studies, published through April 2021, were also considered.

STRUCTURE

Chest pain is a frequent cause for emergency department visits in the United States. The "2021 AHA/ACC/ASE/CHEST/SAEM/SCCT/SCMR Guideline for the Evaluation and Diagnosis of Chest Pain" provides recommendations based on contemporary evidence on the assessment and evaluation of chest pain. This guideline presents an evidence-based approach to risk stratification and the diagnostic workup for the evaluation of chest pain. Cost-value considerations in diagnostic testing have been incorporated, and shared decision-making with patients is recommended.

2021 AHA/ACC/ASE/CHEST/SAEM/SCCT/SCMR Guideline for the Evaluation and Diagnosis of Chest Pain: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines

AIM

This clinical practice guideline for the evaluation and diagnosis of chest pain provides recommendations and algorithms for clinicians to assess and diagnose chest pain in adult patients.

METHODS

A comprehensive literature search was conducted from November 11, 2017, to May 1, 2020, encompassing randomized and nonrandomized trials, observational studies, registries, reviews, and other evidence conducted on human subjects that were published in English from PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Collaboration, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reports, and other relevant databases. Additional relevant studies, published through April 2021, were also considered. Structure: Chest pain is a frequent cause for emergency department visits in the United States. The "2021 AHA/ACC/ASE/CHEST/SAEM/SCCT/SCMR Guideline for the Evaluation and Diagnosis of Chest Pain" provides recommendations based on contemporary evidence on the assessment and evaluation of chest pain. This guideline presents an evidence-based approach to risk stratification and the diagnostic workup for the evaluation of chest pain. Cost-value considerations in diagnostic testing have been incorporated, and shared decision-making with patients is recommended.

Diagnostic Value of Multislice Spiral CT Cardiothoracic Combined with Angiography in Acute Chest Pain

Acute chest pain is a common clinical emergency condition with a variety of causes, including acute coronary syndrome, pulmonary embolism, aortic coarctation, and pneumothorax. It is essential for emergency physicians to quickly and accurately understand the cause of acute chest pain. 64-slice spiral CT combined cardiothoracic angiography is an accurate and rapid way to diagnose and differentiate the cause of acute chest pain. 64-slice combined cardiothoracic angiography can accurately and rapidly display the thoracic aorta, both pulmonary arteries, the main trunk of the coronary artery and its major branches, and also provide a comprehensive view of both lungs and mediastinum, which is an effective test for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of acute chest pain. Based on this, this study further investigated the value of 64-slice spiral CT triplex examination in the diagnosis of acute chest pain. The results showed that 64-slice spiral CT has the advantages of fast scanning speed, high resolution, and advanced postprocessing technology, and combined cardiothoracic angiography can quickly and accurately help emergency physicians analyze the cause of acute chest pain, which plays a very important role in formulating the correct treatment plan in a timely manner. At the same time, with the continuous development of CT technology, the temporal and spatial resolution has improved the quality of CT images, giving us more options to reduce the effective radiation dose and reduce the total amount of contrast, making the 64-row spiral CT cardiothoracic imaging more perfect.