Chest Pain Guidelines

The first comprehensive guideline for the evaluation of chest pain was published in October 2021 by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and received the endorsement of most of the other U.S. subspecialty cardiology societies. The new guideline recommends medical professionals use standardized risk assessments, clinical pathways and tools to evaluate and communicate with people experiencing chest pain. While the guideline covers the role of all types of tests and imaging, the new guidelines elevated the frontline use of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and FFR-CT in specific patients. This inclusion has caused a large amount of interest in expanding cardiac CT programs.

The many benefits of using low-cost CT coronary calcium scoring to screen patients
CT calcium scoring provides valuable evaluations of intermediate-risk patients in addition to making good business sense for hospitals. Nauman Mushtaq, MD, an interventional cardiologist with Northwestern, shared his own experience with this technology.
CT-first strategy the most effective path forward when evaluating stable chest pain
Heart teams have several options when patients present with stable chest pain and require further testing. According to a brand new analysis of nearly 800 patients, CCTA may be the best place to start.
HeartFlow’s AI-powered CAD offering receives new CPT code with improved reimbursement rate
For this update to be finalized, the American Medical Association had to determine FFR_CTAnalysis met certain requirements in terms of its overall impact on patient care. John Farquhar, CEO of HeartFlow, described the news as "a win for everyone involved, most notably patients."
What new data, expert guidelines tell us about the future of cardiac CT
Renee Bullock-Palmer, MD, details the latest guidelines that support the continued use of CT angiography.
$Performing CT-derived fractional flow reserve (CT-FFR) before transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) improves the accuracy of coronary CT angiography (CCTA) and helps limit unneeded invasive coronary angiography (ICA), according to a new study published in JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions. Heartflow$
HeartFlow’s AI-powered CAD offering reaches a significant milestone
The company's trademark offering has now been used to evaluate one quarter of a million patients.

Nauman Mushtaq, MD, Northwestern Medicine, explains the value of CT coronary calcium scoring for patients and for the cardiology business model.

The many benefits of using low-cost CT coronary calcium scoring to screen patients

CT calcium scoring provides valuable evaluations of intermediate-risk patients in addition to making good business sense for hospitals. Nauman Mushtaq, MD, an interventional cardiologist with Northwestern, shared his own experience with this technology.

March 1, 2024

CT-first strategy the most effective path forward when evaluating stable chest pain

Heart teams have several options when patients present with stable chest pain and require further testing. According to a brand new analysis of nearly 800 patients, CCTA may be the best place to start.

February 1, 2024

HeartFlow’s AI-powered CAD offering receives new CPT code with improved reimbursement rate

For this update to be finalized, the American Medical Association had to determine FFR_CTAnalysis met certain requirements in terms of its overall impact on patient care. John Farquhar, CEO of HeartFlow, described the news as "a win for everyone involved, most notably patients."

January 24, 2024

Video of Renee Bullock-Palmer, MD, FSCCT, director, Women’s Heart Center, and director, non-invasive cardiac imaging, at the Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills, New Jersey, explaining the latest guidelines that support use of CT angiography at SCCT 2023. #YesCCT #CCTA #CTA #SCCT #SCCT23 #SCCT2023

What new data, expert guidelines tell us about the future of cardiac CT

Renee Bullock-Palmer, MD, details the latest guidelines that support the continued use of CT angiography.

January 5, 2024

$Performing CT-derived fractional flow reserve (CT-FFR) before transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) improves the accuracy of coronary CT angiography (CCTA) and helps limit unneeded invasive coronary angiography (ICA), according to a new study published in JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions. Heartflow$

HeartFlow’s AI-powered CAD offering reaches a significant milestone

The company's trademark offering has now been used to evaluate one quarter of a million patients.

January 3, 2024

Example of a totally AI driven echocardiography workflow on the new Siemens Origin ultrasound system unveiled in 2023. The AI did all the work on this screen, taking a 3D echo exam and automatically segmenting the anatomy, contoured all the chambers, found the ideal views to display and then calculated all the measurements in seconds. Photo by Dave Fornell at TCT 2023.

Cardiology now has more than 100 FDA cleared AI algorithms; experts say that is just the beginning

Cardiology makes up 10% of the 692 market-cleared clinical AI algorithms in the FDA’s latest update on the number of patient-facing AI now commercialized in the U.S. Experts share their thoughts on how it is being used.

December 14, 2023

Example of cardiac CT and how spectral imaging assessment of the scan and show areas myocarditis as part of a demo in the Philips booth at RSNA 2023. Cardiac CT took center stage in all of the large CT vendors this year at RSNA and four new CT scanners where introduced, all of which were being promoted for their cardiac imaging capabilities. Photo by Dave Fornell #RSNA #YesCCT #RSNA23 #RSNA2023

Cardiac CT's continued rise on display at RSNA 2023

CCTA has seen rapid adoption and growth over the past two years, and RSNA vendors fed that trend with new product launches.

December 5, 2023

Arineta Cardio Imaging, a healthcare company based in Israel, gained clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the deep learning image reconstruction (DLIR) technology used in its SpotLight cardiovascular CT scanners. Arineta Cardio Imaging cardiovascular CT scanners AI.

FDA clears AI-powered image reconstruction technology for cardiac CT scanners

The new technology, trained using more than 3 billion data points, was designed to reduce image noise and improve the overall quality of CT scans.

November 20, 2023

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