New SHAPE guidelines eye imaging role in cardiac risk assessment

Dear AuntMinnie Member,

In its original cardiac risk assessment guidelines published in 2006, the Society for Heart Attack Prevention and Eradication (SHAPE) task force recommended coronary artery calcium (CAC) screening with low-dose CT or ultrasound-based carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) scans as a replacement for population-based risk-assessment methods such as the Framingham risk score that have little to do with an individual's risk of having a heart attack.

But even as evidence supporting the use of these noninvasive imaging modalities continues to pile up, new studies are opening doors to a wider range of risk-assessment methods. Researchers are finding solid prognostic value in several new tests, and the society is responding by preparing new guidelines that incorporate the research.

The SHAPE II guidelines are still being finalized, but representatives of the new task force are expecting a greatly expanded role for 3D ultrasound, increased use of biomarkers, and some tweaking of age and risk categories. The techniques are aimed at enhancing the prognostic value of traditional CT-based CAC scoring and ultrasound-based CIMT testing -- and better targeting of treatment to the people most at risk.

International editor Eric Barnes has our coverage of the upcoming SHAPE II guidelines, which you can access by clicking here or visiting our Cardiac Imaging Digital Community at cardiac.auntminnie.com.

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