ORLANDO, FLA. — A type of “super X-ray” showed promise in its first big test as a potentially cheaper, faster and painless way to find out whether certain people with signs of heart disease actually have it and need treatment.
The scans might eliminate the need for some of the 1.3 million cardiac catheterizations done each year in the United States to check for clogged arteries, said Dr. Julie Miller of Johns Hopkins University.
But the newer scans are controversial. Medicare and private insurers are debating whether to pay for them, and many heart specialists oppose them, partly because they supply a big dose of radiation.
That raises the risk of cancer and might spur thousands of additional cases if the scans were widely used in the population, said Dr. Michael Lauer of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
Speaking at an American Heart Association conference where study results of the scan were presented Monday, he called on doctors not to use the scans until research proves they save lives.
“I think he went a little overboard” and was reacting to worries that the scans would be used to screen people with no symptoms, rather than the more limited use tested in the study, said Miller, who led the research.
This new CT scan technology came on the market two years ago and is already used by many hospitals.
The new scans deliver 10 times more radiation to the patient than a standard angiogram. Though the technology has been in use, its accuracy hasn’t been proved.
Miller’s international study was the first direct comparison. It was funded by scanner-maker Toshiba Medical Systems, and Miller has had research grants from the company.
The scans identified nine out of 10 patients with blockages and 83 percent of those without blockages. They ruled out heart disease in half the patients.
