Adjunctive use of cardiac CT in the coronary intervention laboratory

Cardiac CT is considered an appropriate diagnostic test for evaluation of symptomatic patients with low to intermediate pretest likelihood of coronary artery disease. A negative CT scan reliably rules out the presence of coronary artery disease, has a favorable prognostic value, and might therefore significantly impact the need for invasive coronary angiography. Patients with significant atherosclerotic disease on CT benefit from further functional assessment to decide upon the appropriate therapeutic approach. Beyond this gatekeeper function, cardiac CT overcomes the inherent two-dimensional limitations of the catheter-based approach and might be valuable as a complementary technique in patients with complex coronary artery disease.

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