Improving the positive predictive value of exercise testing in women for coronary artery disease.

The exercise treadmill test (ETT) in women has been limited by a low positive predictive value (PPV) for coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the reliability of previous studies was unsatisfactory because of the inclusion of younger women with a low prevalence of CAD. To further evaluate the diagnostic properties of the ETT in women, we evaluated a group of women with chest pain who had a positive ETT result and subsequent coronary angiography.

Long-term coronary artery graft patency as evaluated by 64-slice coronary computed tomographic angiography.

Objective: Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery has been a mainstream surgical procedure for coronary artery disease for the past three decades. 64-Slice coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) has been established as an accurate alternative to invasive coronary artery angiography for postoperative evaluation of bypass grafts. The goal for this study was to utilize CCTA to evaluate long-term graft patency for various graft types as well as their targets.