Validation of the Simple Acute Coronary Syndrome (SACS) Score and Head-to-Head Comparison of the SACS vs. Modified TIMI vs. HEART ACS Scores

HISTORY: The Simple Acute Coronary Syndrome (SACS) Score was developed in 2009 by Cardiac Catheterization staff after noting what appeared to be an unacceptable volume of patients presenting with low Modified TIMI Scores (0-2) who were found to have severe Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease (OCAD). The SACS Scoring formula was derived by observing correlations in an estimated 12,000 cases between patients' SYMPTOMS, ECG FINDINGS, CAD RISK FACTOR PROFILES, TROPONIN VALUES and the degree of OCAD discovered during coronary angiography.

The primary objective of the SACS Score is to identify patients who are at high risk for OCAD, with the intent that they will receive diagnostic and interventional measures prior to the occurence of Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) or other Major Adverse Coronary Event (MACE).

In a small pilot study conducted in 2009 at St Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, Florida, the SACS Score demonstrated a trend of reliability superior to the Modified TIMI Score for accurately predicting the absence or presence of OCAD. Because the sample size was deemed to be not statistically significant (n=42), the study team concluded that the "SACS Score demonstrates a promising trend, but additional data needs to be collected and analyzed before any definitive conclusions can be drawn."

Since the advent of the St Joseph's study, another ACS / MACE predictive tool, the HEART Score, was introduced by Backus and Six et al of the Netherlands. The HEART Score has been scientifically validated by several studies with results published most recently in the International Journal of Cardiology (2013). Furthermore the studies demonstrated that HEART is superior to the Modified TIMI and GRACE Scores for accurately predicting the probability of MACE.

It is interesting to note that the HEART Score closely resembles SACS, with differences in the scoring formula for ECG findings and the patient's age. Our hypothesis is both scores will demonstrate superior predictability of OCAD, but a hybrid combination of the HEART and SACS formulas may produce a scoring tool that will exceed all three in sensitivity and specificity for predicting the presence or absence of OCAD.