University of Michigan/Mayo Clinic Research Study Shows Electron Beam Tomography 'EBT' Predicts Coronary Artery Disease in Both Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Patients
American Heart Association (AHA) Publishes Paper Supporting Use of EBT Coronary Artery Scan in Determining Need for Additional Cardiac Testing
SO. SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--July 27, 2000-- Imatron Inc. (Nasdaq:IMAT - news) today announced that the American Heart Association highlighted a publication in its July 25, 2000 issue of Circulation, validating the accuracy of Imatron's EBT scanner in the prediction of heart disease. This important research finding clearly demonstrates significantly better test specificity (the ability to produce a normal result in those persons without cardiac disease) for the EBT coronary artery scan for calcification than had previously been thought.
The study, authored by Larry Bielak, MD, and colleagues in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, included 213 patients at high risk, with symptoms of heart disease, who underwent both coronary angiography and the EBT coronary artery scan, together with 765 asymptomatic research subjects who had only the EBT coronary artery scan. All clinical studies were performed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and the project was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
The paper, entitled, ``Probabilistic Model for Prediction of Angiographically Defined Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease Using Electron Beam Computed Tomography Calcium Score Strata,'' shows that EBT coronary artery calcium scores are predictive of coronary artery disease (CAD) in asymptomatic patients as well as those with symptoms. By eliminating a source of bias commonly present in such research studies, the investigators demonstrated that the specificity of the EBT coronary artery scan for the determination of obstructive CAD was 72.4%, significantly better than the approximately 50% reported previously. EBT coronary artery scan sensitivity, the ability to correctly detect the presence of obstructive disease, was a remarkable 97%. According to senior author Dr. Patricia A. Peyser, there was ``strong evidence'' from calcium scores in patients of either sex as to the presence or absence of obstructive CAD. The authors further stated that results of the EBT coronary artery scan should be combined with everything else that physicians already know about their patients to develop a comprehensive CAD diagnosis and treatment strategy. Moreover, they believe that EBT is ``useful for monitoring the progression of atherosclerosis and for identifying patients who need aggressive treatment to lower risk factors.'' |
