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(Circulation. 2003;107:e9045.)
© 2003 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiovascular News

Ruth SoRelle, MPH

Circulation Newswriter

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Incremental Benefits Seen for Electron-Beam Tomography

A 37-month study of 5635 asymptomatic adults who had undergone electron-beam tomography (EBT) found that 224 evaluated cardiac events were associated with coronary artery calcium, diabetes, hypertension, and smoking, said researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine and College of Medicine and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in a report in this week’s issue of the journal Circulation (Circulation. 2003;107:2571–2576).

Of the study, led by George T. Kondos, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, the researchers wrote: "In summary, while office-based risk assessment remains the current recommendation for risk stratification in the general population, the association between EBT CAC [coronary artery calcium] and cardiac events observed in this study of initially asymptomatic, middle-aged, low-to-intermediate cardiac risk individuals presenting for screening (the "worried well") suggests that in this group knowledge of the presence and the extent of EBT CAC provides incremental information above that defined by single or combined conventional CAD [coronary artery disease] risk factor assessment."

In an accompanying editorial titled "Coronary Artery Calcium and Cardiac Events: Is Electron Beam Tomography Ready for Prime Time?," William S. Weintraub, MD, Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Ga, wrote: "The real question now is not whether EBT adds information, but rather whether it adds sufficient information to justify its use, and if so, in which groups of patients" (Circulation. 2003;107:2528–2530).

He wrote, "EBT can only be justified if it . . . [Full Text of this Article]