A scan before the stent: CT guidance matches the gold standard in a 1,105-patient heart trial

Before a cardiologist opens a narrowed heart artery, seeing clearly is everything. In the P4 trial — 1,105 patients, results presented at the TCT conference in San Francisco on Sunday and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine — planning the procedure from a CT scan matched the one-year outcomes of the gold-standard ultrasound imaging done from inside the artery, while procedures were faster and used less contrast dye. In a companion registry, using the Heartflow PCI Navigator's 3D maps of anatomy and blood flow changed doctors' treatment plans in about 70% of cases compared with standard angiography alone. Better maps, it turns out, make for better journeys through the heart.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation