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Biotech / Medical : IMAT - ultrafast tomography for coronary artery disease -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John R Resseger who wrote (2963)	3/19/1999 1:51:00 PM
From: John R Resseger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3725

The Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen, Germany published a study entitled, ''Value of Electron Beam Computed Tomography for the Non-Invasive Detection of High-Grade Coronary Artery Stenoses and Occlusions'' by Dr. Stephen Achenbach and co-investigators. In this notable paper, the results of 100 patients scanned by Imatron's non-invasive EBCT were compared to a standard coronary angiogram. Coronary angiograms are an invasive diagnostic procedure performed more than 1.5 million times annually in the United States at an average cost of $3,000 - $5,000. In those patients where comparison was possible, the sensitivity for the detection of high-grade blockages was 92% and the specificity for accurately predicting the absence of such obstructions was 94%. In reporting an overall negative predictive value of 98% in successful studies, the authors concluded, ''The accuracy of electron beam computed tomography (EBCT) for the diagnosis of high-grade stenoses and occlusions of the coronary arteries seems to be superior to that of other non-invasive techniques.'' Question for Doctors. Are Coronary angiograms 100% accurate in the 95% of patients that are alive after the test the test?