February 16, 2021
The Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) last week published an expert consensus document on the use of coronary CT angiography (CTA), filling a hole yet to be plugged by a long-awaited guideline update from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) expected to address major research advances of recent years.
In 2016, the United Kingdom pushed coronary CTA to the forefront of chest pain assessment with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, and Europe followed suit in 2019. However, US clinicians have been anxiously waiting an update from the ACC/AHA, which was initially anticipated for late 2018, but has seen a series of delays. The lack of chest pain guidelines has been cited as a main reason this modality has yet to be widely adopted and properly reimbursed.