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The Supplementary Role of Non-invasive Imaging to Routine Clinical Practice in Suspected Non-ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Myocardial Ischemia
Myocardial Infarction
Coronary Artery Disease
Chest Pain
Acute Coronary Syndrome
Interventions
Other: Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Other: Computed Tomography Angiography
Registration Number
NCT01559467
Lead Sponsor
Maastricht University Medical Center
Brief Summary

Approximately half of patients with acute chest pain, a very common reason for emergency department visits worldwide, have a cardiac cause. Two-thirds of patients with a cardiac cause are eventually diagnosed with a so-called non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction. The diagnosis of non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction is based on a combination of symptoms, electrocardiographic changes, and increased serum cardiac specific biomarkers (high-sensitive troponin T). Although being very sensitive of myocardial injury, increased high-sensitive troponin T levels are not specific for myocardial infarction. Invasive coronary angiography is still the reference standard for coronary imaging in suspected non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction. This study investigates whether non-invasive imaging early in the diagnostic process (computed tomography angiography (CTA) or cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR)) can prevent unnecessary invasive coronary angiography. For this, patients will be randomly assigned to either one of three strategies: 1) routine clinical care and computed tomography angiography early in the diagnostic process, 2) routine clinical care and cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging early in the diagnostic process, or 3) routine clinical care without non-invasive imaging early in the diagnostic process.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
300
Inclusion Criteria
  • Prolonged symptoms suspected of cardiac origin (angina pectoris or angina equivalent), and presentation on the cardiac emergency department <24 hours after symptom onset

    • Increased levels of high-sensitive Troponin-T (>14ng/L)
    • Age >18 years and <85 years
    • Willing and capable to give written informed consent
    • Written informed consent
Exclusion Criteria
  • Ongoing severe ischemia requiring immediate invasive coronary angiography

  • Shock (mean arterial pressure < 60 mmHg) or severe heart failure (Killip Class ≥ III)

  • ST-elevation myocardial infarction (ST-elevation in 2 contiguous leads: ≥0.2mV in men or ≥0.15 mV in women in leads V2-V3 and/or ≥0.1 mV in other leads or new left bundle branch block)

  • Chest pain highly suggestive of non-cardiac origin:

    • Acute aortic dissection
    • Acute pulmonary embolism (high risk patient defined as Wells score >6)
    • Musculoskeletal or gastro-intestinal pain
    • Other (pneumothorax, pneumonia, rib fracture, etc.)
  • Previously known coronary artery disease, defined as:

    • Any non-invasive diagnostic imaging test positive for coronary artery disease
    • Coronary stenosis >50% on any previous invasive coronary angiography or computed tomography angiography
    • Documented previous myocardial infarction
    • Documented previous coronary artery revascularization
    • Known cardiomyopathy
  • Pregnancy

  • Life threatening arrhythmia on the cardiac emergency department or prior to presentation

  • Tachycardia (≥100/bpm)

  • Atrial fibrillation

  • Angina pectoris secondary to anemia (<5.6 mmol/L), untreated hyperthyroidism, aortic valve stenosis (aortic valve area ≤ 1.5 cm2), or severe hypertension (>200/110 mmHg)

  • Life expectancy <1 year (malignancy, etc.)

  • Contraindications to cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging: metallic implant (vascular clip, neuro-stimulator, cochlear implant), pacemaker or implantable cardiac defibrillator, claustrophobia

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Routine clinical care plus early CMRCardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging-
Routine clinical care plus early CTAComputed Tomography Angiography-
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Total number of patients with at least one invasive coronary angiography during initial admissionDuring initial hospital admission, an expected average of 7 days
Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Thirty-day clinical outcome (a composite of major adverse cardiac events [MACE] and major procedure related complications)30 days
One-year clinical outcome (a composite of major adverse cardiac events [MACE] and major procedure related complications)One-year
Quality of lifeOne-year
Cost-effectivenessAfter study completion, expected after 3 years

The economic evaluation will be a cost-effectiveness analysis, with quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) as outcome measure. Effects will be calculated in terms of QALYs. To investigate the cost-effectiveness of the three strategies, incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) will be calculated. Cost-effectiveness acceptability curves (CEACs) are derived in order to show the probability of each strategy being the optimal choice, for a range of possible maximum values a decision maker is willing to pay for a QALY.

CardiogoniometryAfter study completion, expected after 3 years

A retrospective analysis will be performed to investigate whether CGM performed on the cardiac emergency department can differentiate between a coronary and non-coronary etiology in suspected NSTEMI

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Maastricht University Medical Center

🇳🇱

Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands

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