Estimating Risk of Cancer Associated With Radiation Exposure From 64-Slice Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography

Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in men and women in the United States, accounting for 1 in 5 deaths, and a major cause of health care expenditures, with annual costs estimated at $142 billion.¹ While the gold standard for CAD diagnosis remains conventional coronary angiography, its associated costs and morbidity, including a 1.7% rate of major complications,² have led to the development of noninvasive modalities for CAD diagnosis. Since its approval in 2004, 64-slice computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA) has generated particular interest due to its visualization of the coronary arteries with a spatial resolution as low as 0.4 mm, resulting in high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity and a per-patient negative predictive value greater than 95% in most series.³