INTRODUCTION: Coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) has been widely accepted as a non-invasive diagnostic tool for coronary artery disease (CAD). The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of CCTA and its influence on modification of percutaneous revascularization strategies. METHOD: The study included two groups of patients: a main group (MG), including 100 patients screened with a suspect of severe CAD by CCTA and indication for coronary cineangiography (CINE), and a control group (CG) for comparison, including 100 patients selected during the same period, with indication for CINE according to clinical criteria or by positive functional tests. We evaluated the performance of CCTA for the diagnosis of lesions > 50% in coronary segments, arteries and patients and the revascularization strategies adopted. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values of CCTA were 86%, 95%, 71% and 100% for the coronary segments, 91%, 92%, 80% and 100% for the coronary arteries and 100%, 90%, 100% and 100% for patients, respectively. In the MG, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was performed in 90% of the patients, whereas in the CG, percutaneous coronary intervention was performed in 43% of the patients (P = 0.01). CONCLUSION: CCTA had a high diagnostic performance in detecting CAD and allowed ad hoc PCI to be performed in 90% of the patients. This strategy, however, must await randomized studies to confirm these results.
Coronary disease; Angioplasty, transluminal, percutaneous coronary; Coronary angiography
