What is the diagnostic yield of elective cardiac catheterization in patients without known coronary disease?
The diagnostic yield of elective coronary angiography in patients without known disease is low, highlighting the need for better risk stratification strategies prior to invasive testing.
In this study, slightly more than one third of patients without known disease who underwent elective cardiac catheterization had obstructive coronary artery disease. Better strategies for risk stratification are needed to inform decisions and to increase the diagnostic yield of cardiac catheterization in routine clinical practice.
Patel et al. (2010) studied this question.