The CT-STAT (Coronary Computed Tomographic Angiography for Systematic Triage of Acute Chest Pain Patients to Treatment) trial.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency, cost, and safety of a diagnostic strategy employing early coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) to a strategy employing rest-stress myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) in the evaluation of acute low-risk chest pain.

Background: In the United States, >8 million patients require emergency department evaluation for acute chest pain annually at an estimated diagnostic cost of >$10 billion.

Methods: This multicenter, randomized clinical trial in 16 emergency departments ran between June 2007 and November 2008.

Cardiovascular emergencies in cruise ship passengers.

More than 10 million people, many elderly and likely to harbor cardiovascular (CV) disease, embark on cruise ship travel worldwide every year. The clinical presentation and outcome of CV emergencies presenting during cruise ship travel remain largely unknown. Our department provides contracted cardiology consultations to several large cruise lines.

Reclassification of patients for aggressive cholesterol treatment: additive value of multislice coronary angiography to the National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines.

Background: National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) guidelines have been used to define treatment goals in patients with hypercholesterolemia. However, epidemiology-based guidelines are unable to identify all subjects with coronary artery disease for aggressive lipid intervention.

Objective: We sought to evaluate the additive value of multislice computed tomography (MSCT) angiography to the NCEP guideline classification for lipid treatment.

Analysis of current nuclear cardiology literature in MEDLINE database: a study of gated SPECT imaging using PubMed.

Background: Easy access to relevant clinical information is necessary for physicians to make the best decisions for patient management. The increasing amount of information available has made it difficult for physicians to retrieve up-to-date information efficiently. We sought to determine the accessibility and accuracy of indexing in the nuclear cardiology literature by conducting sample searches in the MEDLINE database on the topic of gated single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging.