Investigators analyzing a large new database of coronary CT angiography (CCTA) studies said that the research confirms the prognostic value of the technology and the lower risk of death associated with its use.
During the 2010 American Heart Association (AHA) conference this week in Chicago, the group will present the results of the first six studies to be written based on CONFIRM (Coronary CT Angiography Evaluation for Clinical Outcomes) data, with more expected to follow.
CONFIRM is a six-nation, 12-center, 27,000-patient database of patients undergoing coronary CT angiography. It represents the largest database of coronary CTA patients analyzed to date, they said.
"The CONFIRM data definitively establishes the prognostic value of CT-identified coronary artery disease, and the risk of death associated with these findings," said James Min, MD, lead CONFIRM investigator and professor of medicine and radiology at Cornell University Medical Center/New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, in a statement. "We hope that the CONFIRM data will allow for earlier detection of patients at risk for adverse coronary artery disease-related events and will result in improved treatment and outcomes of patients with coronary artery disease."
CONFIRM was launched as a response to the 2010 Expert Consensus Document on coronary CTA, issued by multiple academic societies, that characterized the evidence base as not "sufficiently mature" for clinical practice guidelines. CONFIRM "substantially addresses areas the consensus document claims are evidentiary gaps," the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) said in its statement. Min is also SCCT's president-elect.
The results of six CONFIRM studies will be announced at the AHA meeting, and more results are expected in the future, the statement continued. Results of one trial were announced in July at the SCCT meeting in Las Vegas.
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