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| Need for Improved CAD Detection |
Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and stroke, the consequences of atherosclerosis, are leading causes of mortality in the U.S., accounting nearly 25 percent of deaths. CAD alone, Rcadia’s initial focus, affects some 16 million people in the U.S., causes 1.2 million heart attacks, and over 450,000 deaths. The direct costs of CAD are estimated at over $87 billion. Because current diagnostic techniques are often equivocal, nearly two million, primarily low risk, patients are admitted from emergency departments (ED) to the hospital for further testing at an annual cost of $10-$13 billion; acute coronary syndrome (heart attack or unstable angina) is subsequently ruled out in these patients.
cCTA has generated significant clinical interest in recent years for coronary blood vessel analysis, particularly as a non-invasive, rapid method to rule out patients without significant disease. Published studies have suggested that cCTA may significantly reduce the time and cost of Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) triage in the ED in low risk patients. The American Medical Association recently classified cCTA as Category I in its CPT coding system, indicating the procedure is widely used in clinical practice and its efficacy has been documented in published literature.
However, coronary CT angiography is under-utilized in the ED because the procedure relies on expert readers who may not be immediately available during ‘off hours’. The need for expert readers, along with time needed to analyze cCTA studies, can create turnaround time bottlenecks that increase the time deliver appropriate patient care.
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