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August 10, 2011

New Software Allows Cardiac Patients to Limit Exposure to CT Scans



Patients who must have their arteries scanned for the plaque that causes heart attacks, in the past, had to undergo two computed tomography (CT) scans – first, a calcium scoring exam, then another CT scan for a coronary computed tomography angiography (cCTA) study.

But now, the first fully automated software that performs calcium scoring directly from a cCTA study is getting ready for its debut, according to a story by medimaging.net writers, helping cardiac patients be exposed to less radiation.

According to medimaging.net writers, the new software is “based on Rcadia Medical Imaging COR analyzer system technology for fully automatic detection of stenosis in cCTA studies.” The new software is the first to “show strong correlation with the standard Agatston scoring, (and) has the potential to eliminate the need for a separate calcium score (CS) exam,” the story explains, and in so doing, can reduce costs and decrease patients’ exposure to radiation.

Agatston scoring measures the amount of calcium included in the results from a CT scan, according to wikipedia.org. A coronary calcium scan is a test that can help show whether you have coronary heart disease, also called coronary artery disease.

The scoring also gives physicians “information about the presence, location and extent of calcified plaquecoronary calcium scan is a test that can help show whether you have coronary heart disease, also called coronary artery disease. in the coronary arteries,” according to radiologyinfo.org. Plaque is what clogs arteries and causes heart attacks.  A

The medimaging.net writers note that, until recently, a separate calcium scoring CT study was frequently conducted prior to a cCTA exam. “With the new generation of CT scanners, CS can be accomplished from cCTA; a separate CS study, which increases the patient’s radiation exposure, has the potential to be avoided,” the writers explain.

Rcadia thinks a trial that was held of 215 patients is the “first reported study to match an automatically computed calcium score from cCTA to the standard Agatston score from non-enhanced calcium scoring studies,” the medimaging.net writers say.Cardiac patients today benefit from these new imaging technologies to screen for cardiac disease because they allow them to avoid not just repetitive CT scans, but more invasive procedures, according to a Web article by Udo Hoffmann, MD; Thomas J. Brady, MD, and James Muller, MD, who wrote that CT, MRI and nuclear imaging “now make it possible to image the heart and perform a partial evaluation of the coronary arteries without the need for an invasive procedure such as cardiac catheterization.”


Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning health and technology writer who has worked for newspapers, magazines and IBM in her 20-year career. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Rich Steeves
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