John Puskas explains CCTA will replace invasive angiography very soon

Invasive diagnostic coronary angiograms have been the backbone of coronary artery disease (CAD) assessment for decades. However, many cardiology experts are predicting the rapid growth of coronary CT angiography (CCTA) will very soon eliminate the need for catheterizing patients just to shoot pictures. Thought leaders in cardiac CT have been discussing the potential of such a trend for years, and now CT hardware, software and artificial intelligence (AI) have all caught up enough that it truly seems possible. In fact, interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons have now joined cardiac imagers in support of CCTA. 

"We still rely on invasive coronary angiography (ICA) to make the basic diagnosis of CAD, but we don't use black and white cameras anymore, or TV cameras that are as big as a microwave oven anymore. Technology has changed the way we image everything around us, except how we look at the coronary arteries. CCTA is changing that rapidly," explained John D. Puskas, MD, MSc, PhD, professor of surgery and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Emory University Hospital Midtown.

He said CCTA technology, especially AI-driven advances in automation thanks to fractional flow reserve (FFR-CT) and soft plaque analysis, has given noninvasive CT diagnostic capabilities far beyond those of invasive angiography.