Does the extent of plaque detected by coronary computed tomography angiography enhance risk assessment for cardiovascular events in patients with coronary artery disease?
The extent of coronary plaque detected by CCTA enhances cardiovascular risk assessment regardless of the presence of obstructive or nonobstructive disease.
Among patients with nonobstructive CAD, those with extensive plaque experienced a higher rate of cardiovascular death or myocardial infarction, comparable with those who have nonextensive disease. Even among patients with obstructive CAD, greater extent of nonobstructive plaque was associated with higher event rate. Our findings suggest that regardless of whether obstructive or nonobstructive disease is present, the extent of plaque detected by coronary computed tomography angiography enhances risk assessment.
Bittencourt et al. (2014) studied this question.