Cost effectiveness of coronary calcification scanning using electron beam tomography in intermediate and high risk asymptomatic individuals.

Pharmaceutical therapy of hyperlipidemia is clearly beneficial. In the patient without established heart disease however, conventional risk assessment is imprecise and determining which patients are at highest versus lowest risk is a common clinical conundrum. It is well established that the most powerful determinant to risk is the overall extent/severity of coronary disease. Electron beam tomography (EBT) and quantification of coronary artery calcium has been shown to provide a valid non-invasive surrogate to atherosclerotic plaque burden. Screening patients who are considered to be at traditional intermediate to high risk by first using EBT can refine the broad-based population risk to a more individual basis. Data that is based upon a model developed for application of EBT are presented, which discuss its potential as a cost effective application to guide statin therapy in intermediate and high-risk sub-groups.