CT-FIRST: Cardiac Computed Tomography Versus Stress Imaging For Initial Risk STratification — CT-FIRST  

Coronary Artery Disease Clinical Trial

Official title: CT-FIRST: Cardiac Computed Tomography Versus Stress Imaging For Initial Risk STratification

Status Active, not recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

In patients with chest pain or shortness of breath who are referred for stress imaging tests (either stress echocardiography or stress nuclear testing), the investigators seek to compare impact of using cardiac CT scans of the heart arteries to the stress test that their doctors ordered.

Clinical Trial Description

The current evaluation for chest pain in low and intermediate risk patients typically starts with a functional assessment for coronary ischemia. Exercise treadmill testing is often selected as the initial diagnostic modality for coronary artery function. However, exercise treadmill testing is limited by its modest sensitivity and specificity, often resulting in further cardiac resource utilization for patient risk stratification and reassurance. Additionally, many patients with chest pain are not candidates for regular stress testing due to an abnormal baseline electrocardiogram or inability to exercise. Therefore, exercise or pharmacologic stress imaging is considered the standard of care for the evaluation of coronary artery function in a large percentage of patients with chest pain. However, each of the currently available stress imaging tests has well-documented limitations, resulting in a sizeable number of false negative and false positive studies. With the advent of coronary Multislice Computed Tomography (MSCT) angiography, coronary artery anatomy can now be accurately evaluated noninvasively. Despite its impressive performance characteristics, the role of coronary MSCT angiography in the evaluation of angina remains undefined. Furthermore, studies comparing MSCT to stress imaging are lacking. CT-FIRST compares the impact on downstream resource utilization and patient outcomes of an initial diagnostic strategy employing the addition of coronary MSCT angiography to stress imaging (exercise and pharmacologic stress echo and nuclear perfusion testing) with a standard-of-care diagnostic strategy of stress imaging for the evaluation of low-intermediate risk patients with possible angina. The study is a single center, prospective, non-blinded, randomized clinical trial. ;

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Diagnostic

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Atherosclerosis
• Chest Pain
• Coronary Artery Disease
• Coronary Atherosclerosis
• Coronary Disease
• Myocardial Ischemia
• Stress Testing

• NCT number: NCT01061398
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Walter Reed Army Medical Center
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: November 2007
• Completion date: December 2012