Implications of Recent Clinical Trials in Cardiovascular Imaging on Primary Prevention Therapies

AbstractPurpose of ReviewThis review aims to provide an overview of how cardiovascular imaging can help individualize preventive cardiovascular care, while focusing on the implications of various recent noninvasive and invasive imaging studies for the field of preventive cardiology.Recent FindingsCoronary artery calcium (CAC) has established itself as a well-validated tool for detecting the presence or absence of coronary atherosclerosis and thus can provide a more precise measurement of risk than many commonly used risk scores. While individuals with no CAC have an excellent prognosis, those with even minimal CAC have an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. These findings have now been extended across several different patient cohorts, including younger patients (e.g., age 35 –46 years), for whom the presence of any plaque is associated with a substantially higher risk. Aside from helping to guide the need for various preventive therapies, the detection of CAC may lead to improved risk factor modifications and enhance patient compliance. The implications of these stud ies include the fact that the incidental identification of CAC on nongated chest CT scans in patients without prior known CAD should prompt intensification of preventive therapies. Recent trials have suggested that among patients with stable symptoms, coronary CTA, as compared to functional testing, leads to higher initiation and intensification of preventive strategies, and a lower incidence o...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - Category: Cardiology Source Type: research