Go-Live Coronary CTA Service

David Gerson, MD was pleased to announce the Go-Live for the Coronary CTA service for patients in the ED/CDU starting Monday, September 20, 2021. The goal of this program is to improve both patient care and patient throughput in the ED and the CDU. This is the result of significant effort of our multidisciplinary committee comprised of numerous individuals in Radiology, Cardiology, and Emergency Medicine.

Some details about the program are:

• For patients in the ED or CDU -- we already offer coronary CTA for both inpatients and outpatients
• Intended for patients with chest pain who are at an intermediate risk of CAD

• HEART score 4-6 (or clinical concern)​

• Normal sinus EKG with no acute ischemic changes​

• One negative troponin​

• No significant CAD (no stents, no CABG)

• Able to lower HR to ≤ 65

• Able to hold breath for at least 10 seconds at CT

• Service will initially be offered 8am-5pm, 365 days a year

• Studies are read by both Radiology (ED Radiologists and Drs. Gerson and Yucel) and Cardiology (Drs. Fitzgibbons, Dahlberg and Kovell)

• The reader schedule is available on Radiology's QGenda (under Chest Division -> ED Cardiac CT) and on the Hub under the On-Call Schedules (UMass Memorial Medical Center -> Radiology -> Coronary CTA Radiologists/Cardiologists)

• We have access to FFRct analysis (HeartFlow) to increase the specificity of the study in patients with significant CAD

If you have any question, I am happy to discuss this further.

If you get questions (or have questions) about the program, please feel free to refer them to Hao Lo, Tim Fitzgibbons (Cardiology), Jeff Rade (Cardiology), Sneha Chinai (ED), or myself.