PREDICTIVE VALUE OF ELECTRON-BEAM COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY OF THE CORONARY-ARTERIES - 19-MONTH FOLLOW-UP OF 1173 ASYMPTOMATIC SUBJECTS

Background Coronary electron beam computed tomography (EBCT) detects a therosclerotic coronary artery disease by measuring calcium deposition in the walls of coronary arteries. EBCT-derived coronary artery calci um (CAC) scores correlate with the severity of underlying coronary art ery disease. Methods and Results We followed 1173 asymptomatic patient s who underwent EBCT between September 1993 and March 1994. During ave rage follow-up of 19 months, 18 subjects had 26 cardiovascular events: 1 death, 7 myocardial infarctions, 8 coronary artery bypass graft pro cedures, 9 coronary angioplasties, and 1 nonhemorrhagic stroke. For CA C score thresholds of 100, 160, and 680, EBCT had sensitivities of 89% , 89%, and 50% and specificities of 77%, 52%, and 95%, respectively. O dds ratios ranged from 20.0 to 35.4 (P<.00001 for all). Conclusions Co ronary EBCT predicts future atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease eve nts in asymptomatic subjects.