Michael C. Turner, M.D., to Speak on Innovations in Coronary Artery Disease in Venice, Italy, on Breakthroughs in Cardiac CT Triage - October 2017

LAKE CHARLES, La., November 6, 2017 (Newswire.com) - For over 2 1/2 years, Michael C. Turner, M.D., of Cardiovascular Specialists of Southwest Louisiana, has been screening emergency room patients complaining of chest pains with a revolutionary cardiac CT scanning method. Within 10 seconds, this non-invasive cardiac CT scan takes images of the heart and coronary arteries. The scan quickly reveals whether the patient’s heart is normal — at which point they can be released and treated by their primary care physician — or if they are at risk of a heart attack. Thirty percent of patients scanned do have some heart disease with 5-to-10 percent needing further evaluation for critical heart disease. Sixty percent of patients scanned have no heart disease and are discharged from the emergency room. With cardiac CT scanning in the emergency room, the patients can move from diagnosis to treatment, often going home the next day without a barrage of downstream scans and tests.

The greatest value of the cardiac CT triage is accuracy. "We call it the negative predictive value of the cardiac CT scan,” says Dr. Turner. “The likelihood a patient with a normal scan is not going to have an event is 99.5 percent. There is no other test in cardiology that is that accurate. I can tell a patient their arteries are normal and that they won't have a heart attack for the next 10 years and be 99.5 percent sure I am right.”

The cardiac CT triage scans reveal that there is a significant increased risk of a heart attack or chest pain event in the next year for this subset of patients. Without the cardiac CT triage scans, it is likely these risks would go unrecognized.

Michael C. Turner, M.D.

Using the cardiac CT triage method, Dr. Turner has discovered a unique subset of patients that have moderate coronary artery disease with high-risk plaque in the artery wall. He will be presenting this data to interventional and research cardiologists from the United States and Europe at the International Congress on Innovations in Coronary Artery Disease in Venice, Italy, on October 15, 16 and 17, 2017. “We now have over 2 1/2 years of data," says Dr. Turner. “The cardiac CT triage scans reveal that there is a significant increased risk of a heart attack or chest pain event in the next year for this subset of patients. Without the cardiac CT triage scans, it is likely these risks would go unrecognized.”

For more information, contact Cardiovascular Specialists of Southwest Louisiana office at (337) 493-4345 or send an e-mail to chinton@imperialhealth.com.

Source: Cardiovascular Specialists of Southwest Louisiana