Cardiologist Martha Gulati, MD, lead author of the 2021 chest pain guidelines, explained how the document may have contributed to the rise of cardiac CT. "These guidelines have made it harder for people to push back and say you don't need this test," she said. 

Several key trends at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography were outlined by society President Ed Nicol, MD, including AI, reimbursement issue, business management discussions, and a growing interest in cardiac CT leading to record attendance this year.

AI to help interpret cardiac CT was shown to reduce exam read times to improve workflow efficiency, and improve patient diagnostics with additional information on soft plaques. Data was presented in three HeartFlow AI technology studies at SCCT 2023.

While the ACC/AHA 2021 Chest Pain Assessment Guidelines included cardiac CT angiography as a top level recommendation, gaps in evidence still need to be filled.

There are now more than 520 FDA-cleared AI algorithms and the majority are for radiology and cardiology, raising the question of who is liable if the AI gets something wrong.

Researchers examined data from nearly 2 million patients, sharing their full findings in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.

Ed Nicol, MD, MBA, president-elect of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, discusses what he sees as the big technology advances in cardiac CT.

Ricardo Cury, MD, chairman of radiology and director of cardiac imaging, Baptist Health South Florida and Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute, discusses the new CAD-RADS 2.0 cardiac imaging reporting criteria.