Clinical Research
Cardiac Imaging
Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography for the Detection of Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Trials

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Objectives

This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) for detecting cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) in comparison with conventional coronary angiography (CCAG) alone or with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS).

Background

CAV limits long-term survival after heart transplantation, and screening for CAV is performed on annual basis. CCTA is currently not recommended for CAV screening due to the limited accuracy reported by early studies. Technological advances, however, might have resulted in improved test performance and might justify re-evaluation of this recommendation.

Methods

A systematic review of Medline, Cochrane, and Embase for all prospective trials assessing CAV using CCTA was performed using a standard approach for meta-analysis for diagnostic test and a bivariate analysis.

Results

Thirteen studies evaluating 615 patients (mean age 52 years, 83% male) and 9,481 segments fulfilled inclusion criteria. Patient-based analyses comparing CCTA versus CCAG for the detection of any CAV (> luminal irregularities) and significant CAV (stenosis ≥50%), showed mean weighted sensitivities of 97% and 94%, specificities of 81% and 92%, a negative predictive value (NPV) of 97% and 99%, a positive predictive value (PPV) of 78% and 67%, and diagnostic accuracies of 88% and 94%, respectively. There was a strong trend toward improved sensitivity (97% vs. 91%, p = 0.06) and NPV (99% vs. 97%, p = 0.06) to detect significant CAV with 64-slice compared with 16-slice CCTA. A patient-based analysis of 64-slice CCTA versus IVUS showed a mean weighted sensitivity and specificity of 81% and 75% to detect CAV (intimal thickening >0.5 mm), whereas the PPV and NPV were 93% and 50%, respectively.

Conclusions

CCTA using currently available technology is a reliable noninvasive imaging alternative to coronary angiography with an excellent sensitivity, specificity, and NPV for the detection of CAV.

Key Words

accuracy
cardiac allograft vasculopathy
coronary computed tomography angiography
heart transplantation
transplant vasculopathy

Abbreviations and Acronyms

CAV
cardiac allograft vasculopathy
CCAG
conventional coronary angiography
CCTA
coronary computed tomography angiography
CI
confidence interval
IVUS
intravascular ultrasound
NPV
negative predictive value
PPV
positive predictive value
ROC
receiver-operating characteristic

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This work was presented in part at the American Transplant Congress 2012, Boston, Massachusetts. The authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose.