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.