According to the results, patients with scores from 0 to 2 had a 4% or lower risk of major adverse cardiac events (MACE); those with scores from 3 to 5 had an 8% risk; and those with scores from 6 to 9 had an 13% risk. In addition, the calcium estimates were consistent among the physicians, suggesting that the rating system was reliable, the researchers say.
“Our coronary calcium assessment is easy to use and requires minimal training, and so offers a cost-effective tool that can be implemented in any medical practice,” said study co-senior author and cardiologist Robert Donnino, MD. Donnino is an assistant professor in the Departments of Medicine and Radiology at NYU Langone.
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“While evaluating cardiac risks before surgery is helpful, it will be important to find new strategies to prevent adverse events after the procedure and improve survival,” added study co-senior author and cardiologist Nathaniel Smilowitz, MD. “Future studies might explore ways to reduce heart attacks without causing additional bleeding at the surgical site, perhaps by studying therapies that reduce inflammation during surgery,” said Smilowitz, an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone.
Funding for the study was provided by National Institutes of Health grants K23HL150315, R01HL114978 and R35HL144993.
Smilowitz has served on an advisory board as a consultant to Abbott Vascular, which develops medical devices and therapies for heart diseases.
In addition to Choi, Donnino, and Smilowitz, other NYU Langone researchers involved in the study were Dena Hayesk, MD; Samuel Maidman, MD; Nehal Dhaduk, MD; Jill Jacobs, MD; Anna Shmukler, MD; Jeffrey Berger, MD, MS; Germaine Cuff, PhD; David Rehe, MD; and Mitchell Lee, MD.
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