Triaging patients with acute chest pain in the emergency department: implications of the CT-STAT trial

Abstract

Evaluation of: Goldstein JA, Chinnaiyan KM, Abidov A et al. The CT-STAT (Coronary Computed Tomographic Angiography for Systematic Triage of Acute Chest Pain Patients to Treatment) trial. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 58(14), 1414–1422 (2011).

Rapid advancements in multidetector-row computed tomography scanner technology over the last decade have significantly improved the diagnostic performance of coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA), enabling it to potentially become the preferred imaging modality used in the rapid assessment of chest pain patients in the emergency department. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting coronary CTA can rule out coronary artery stenosis quickly and accurately, thereby reducing the number of hospitalizations and healthcare costs, without compromising quality of care. CT-STAT is the first multicenter trial to demonstrate the power of coronary CTA to streamline patient care in the acute setting and radically transform current treatment algorithms.

Keywords::

• acute chest pain
• coronary artery disease
• coronary CT angiography
• emergency department
• multidetector-row CT

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.