SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY

Hopkins Study Supports Use of CT Scan of Heart

from the Baltimore Sun

Advanced CT scans that cardiologists have been slow to embrace are nearly as effective as the invasive and expensive surgical methods typically used to diagnose coronary blockages, according to new research out today by Johns Hopkins doctors.

But the findings aren't putting to rest the question of whether scanning the heart with computed tomography can be a suitable alternative to inserting a cardiac catheter when assessing patients with chest pains.

Instead, the debate is only intensifying over whether CT scans, widely used on many other parts of the body, should be used in cardiac patients and whether the financial cost and radiation are worth it.