Diagnostic Strategies for the Assessment of Suspected Stable Coronary Artery Disease : A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

What's New in Preoperative Cardiac Testing

More than 300 million surgeries are performed annually worldwide. Patients are progressively aging and often have multiple comorbidities that put them at increased cardiovascular risk in the perioperative period. The United States published latest guidelines regarding preoperative cardiac evaluation and risk stratification for patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery in 2014. There are multiple risk stratification tools available that can help guide management. Furthermore, newer laboratory tests, such as preoperative NT-proBNP and high-sensitivity troponin assays, may aid in preventing and diagnosing perioperative myocardial injury.

Clinical study of two-dimensional speckle tracking to evaluate abnormal myocardial motion due to coronary lesions

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the predictive ability of global longitudinal strain (GLS) and mechanical dispersion for coronary stenosis and provide a more reliable noninvasive method for diagnosis of obstructive coronary artery disease(OCAD).

METHODS

Sixty-seven patients diagnosed with suspected CAD were included in the study. Patients with coronary stenosis greater than 50% were assigned as OCAD, while the others were assigned as non obstructive coronary artery disease(NOCAD). General information was collected and patients underwent speckle tracking echocardiogram(STE).

RESULTS

Spearman's correlation analysis showed that GLS and mechanical dispersion were positively correlated with the degree of coronary stenosis (r = 0.383, 0.342, p < 0.05), and there was also a positive correlation between GLS and mechanical dispersion (r = 0.327, p < 0.05). GLS, longitudinal strain (LS) of each chamber, and mechanical dispersion were higher in the OCAD group than in the NOCAD group (p < 0.05). Univariate regression analysis showed that GLS, each lumen LS and mechanical dispersion were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Multifactorial regression analysis showed that elevated GLS (p = 0.007) and elevated mechanical dispersion (p = 0.030) were independent risk factors for OCAD. The ROC curves showed that GLS predicted OCAD (AUC area 0.745, 95% CI 0.624 to 0.865) versus mechanical discrete prediction of OCAD (AUC area 0.702, 95% CI 0.569 to 0.834) were more diagnostic than conventional cardiac ultrasound observations of ventricular wall motion abnormalities (AUC area 0.566, 95% CI 0.463 to 0.669).

CONCLUSIONS

Combining GLS with mechanical dispersion can rapidly assess OCAD in a very short period, which has strong promotion value and in-depth research value.

Safe Deferral of Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography for Patients With a Low Pretest Probability of Coronary Artery Disease in 2019 European Society of Cardiology Guidelines

BACKGROUND

Coronary computed tomography angiography is increasingly used as the first-line test for suspected coronary artery disease. Its overuse in a low pretest probability (PTP) population may lead to low diagnostic yield without change in patient management. We evaluated the clinical consequences of the updated 2019 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) chronic coronary syndromes guidelines' PTP estimation and whether imaging could be safely deferred in patients with a low PTP.

METHODS AND RESULTS

This retrospective cohort included all 1753 consecutive patients who underwent coronary computed tomography angiography for suspected coronary artery disease at Helsinki University Hospital between 2009 and 2017. PTP was calculated according to the 2013 and 2019 ESC guidelines. The overall mortality, cardiac deaths, myocardial infarctions, and hospitalizations for unstable angina were acquired from national registry data for 1 to 10 years of follow-up (median, 4 years). Updated 2019 ESC guidelines classified 72% of the patients as having low PTP, whose imaging could have been deferred. The revascularization rate (4.7%) and annual cardiac mortality (0.4%) were low in the 857 patients reclassified from the recommendation to test, according to the 2013 ESC guideline, to deferral of coronary computed tomography angiography, according to the new 2019 guideline.

CONCLUSIONS

The updated 2019 ESC guideline PTP score aids clinicians in safely preventing the overuse of cardiac imaging in patients deemed at low PTP of coronary artery disease. Diagnostic yield, revascularization rate, and cardiac mortality are low in patients with low pretest risk.

Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography Versus Invasive Coronary Angiography in Stable Chest Pain: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

BACKGROUND

The efficacy of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) versus invasive coronary angiography (ICA) among patients with stable chest pain has been studied in several trials with conflicting results.

METHODS

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing CCTA first versus direct ICA among patients with stable chest pain, who were initially referred to ICA. PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central were searched for randomized controlled trials comparing the 2 strategies. Risk ratios (RRs) and mean differences with 95% CIs were computed for binary and continuous outcomes, respectively.

RESULTS

Five randomized controlled trials with a total of 5727 patients were included, of whom 51.1% were referred to CCTA and 22.5% of patients had evidence of ischemia on a prior functional test. In the follow-up ranging from 1 to 3.5 years, 660 of the 2928 patients randomized to CCTA first underwent ICA (23%). Patients who underwent CCTA had lower rates of coronary revascularization (RR, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.66-0.84]; P<0.001) and stroke (RR, 0.50 [95% CI, 0.26-0.98]; P=0.043). Cardiovascular mortality (RR, 0.55 [95% CI, 0.24-1.23]; P=0.146), major adverse cardiovascular events (RR, 0.84 [95% CI, 0.64-1.10]; P=0.198), nonfatal myocardial infarction (RR, 1.09 [95% CI, 0.63-1.88]; P=0.768), and cardiovascular hospitalizations (RR, 0.91 [95% CI, 0.59-1.39]; P=0.669) did not differ significantly between groups.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with stable chest pain referred for ICA, CCTA avoided the need for ICA in 77% of patients otherwise referred for ICA. CCTA was associated with a reduction in the rates of coronary revascularization and stroke compared with direct ICA.

REGISTRATION

URL: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/; Unique identifier: CRD42023383143.