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CT scan the most accurate non-invasive test for heart disease, study conclu

Category: Heart Health and Cholesterol

German researchers have recently conducted a study which suggests that a computed tomography (CT) scan is a more accurate non-invasive test than a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan in diagnosing coronary artery disease.

The traditional technique for identifying heart disease is a coronary angiography, which involves threading a catheter into the heart, a dangerous procedure that doctors use as sparingly as possible, according to Health Day.

Georg Schuetz of the Charite Medical School in Berlin, Germany, and his colleagues studied the results of over 8,500 patients with suspected heart disease who had received either a CT or an MRI exam. The researchers found that CT scans correctly identified the disease in 97 percent of patients, while MRI scans were only 87 percent accurate.

"For imaging of the cardiac arteries, CT is more robust," said Ricardo Cury, director of cardiac MRI and CT at Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute in Miami, quoted by the news source. "We perform MRI on a clinical basis more for functional assessment, as opposed to looking at the coronary arteries."

The results of the study are published in the February 2 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.