Publications by authors named "Richard S Underwood"
The introduction of the National Surveillance Centre (NSC) has improved the efficiency and effectiveness of managing medicines availability within the public healthcare system in South Africa. However, at present, there is limited data regarding the perceptions among users of the NSC and challenges that need addressing. A descriptive quantitative study was performed among all registered active NSC users between August and November 2022.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This study compared the performance of the quantitative flow ratio (QFR) with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) for the diagnosis of fractional flow reserve (FFR)-defined coronary artery disease (CAD).
Background: QFR estimates FFR solely based on cine contrast images acquired during invasive coronary angiography (ICA). Head-to-head studies comparing QFR with noninvasive MPI are lacking.
Article Synopsis
- Current noninvasive tests for diagnosing significant coronary artery disease (CAD) are unclear, but methods like SPECT, PET, and CCTA are commonly used; still, there are no comprehensive studies directly comparing their effectiveness.
- The study aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of CCTA, SPECT, and PET in detecting CAD, while also evaluating the benefits of combining these imaging methods into a hybrid approach versus using fractional flow reserve.
- Results showed that out of 208 patients, 44.2% had significant CAD. CCTA had the highest sensitivity at 90%, while SPECT had lower sensitivity at 57% but high specificity of 94%, indicating that SPECT is better at correctly identifying those without CAD, although