Authors' recommendations: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is among the most common chronic conditions in the U.S., affecting over 16 million adults. CAD is estimated to cause over 1 million acute coronary events and over 400,000 deaths in this country each year. Due to its prevalence, and because several options (e.g., surgery, medication) exist to reduce CAD-related morbidity and mortality, accurate diagnosis of CAD is critical. Currently the definitive standard for diagnosis is invasive coronary angiography (ICA). There are risks associated with ICA, however, such as infection, artery trauma, and heart arrhythmias. For this reason non-invasive diagnostic methods have been explored to document the presence of CAD; a growing number of such tests have been developed to identify CAD lesions significant enough to affect the flow of blood to the heart (i.e., myocardial perfusion). These functional tests are typically performed under exercise- or drug-induced stress to determine whether blood flow deteriorates when the stressor is introduced.

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://www.icer-review.org/cardiac-nuclear-imaging/

Year Published: 2013

URL for published report: http://www.icer-review.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/cni_final_report_081313.pd

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: United States

Organisation Name: Institute for Clinical and Economic Review

Contact Address: 101 Merrimac St., 10th FL., Boston MA, USA 02114, Tel: (617) 724-4445 , Fax: (617) 726-9414

Contact Name: info@icer-review.org

Contact Email: info@icer-review.org

Copyright: Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER)