Incremental Prognostic Value of Different Components of Coronary Atherosclerotic Plaque at Cardiac CT Angiography beyond Coronary Calcification in Patients with Acute Chest Pain: Nance JW Jr, Schlett CL, Schoepf UJ, et al. Radiology 2012;264:679–90.

Abstract

In this single-centered, retrospective cohort study of 458 low-to-intermediate-risk patients presenting with acute onset chest pain and without acute coronary syndrome or non-cardiac etiology of their symptoms on initial work-up, the authors investigated the value of coronary artery calcium (CAC) score and cardiac computed tomography (CT) angiography in predicting the risk for major adverse coronary events (MACE). Of the 458 patients included in the analysis, 70 (15%) had a MACE during the 24-month follow-up period.