Coronary CT Angiography for Acute Chest Pain

Each year, more than 6 million people in the United States go to emergency departments because of acute chest pain. Some of them have coronary artery disease, but most have diseases that are unrelated to the heart or they have no discernible physiological conditions. The vast majority will undergo various diagnostic tests, and many will be held for observation and may be admitted to the hospital. This approach, however, is guaranteed to lead to unnecessary stays in the emergency department and to overtreatment. More disturbingly, it is unclear whether this approach actually results in better outcomes than a more conservative . . .