CT: Patient selection

Proper patient selection is extremely important in all diagnostic testing. The potential benefi t should outweigh the risk of the test. With cardiac CT, valuable information regarding coronary arteries and cardiac anatomy can be rapidly obtained in a noninvasive manner. Appropriate use criteria documents have been developed to help guide practitioners on whether a test is likely to be benefi cial in making the correct diagnosis, providing prognostic information, or obtaining vital information prior to invasive procedures. Despite these potential benefi ts, there are risks related to cardiac CT including radiation and contrast agents, which should be minimized as much as possible. There are also patient factors that can infl uence the diagnostic quality of the cardiac CT exam, which can render the exam uninterpretable and not benefi cial. Careful patient selection will help improve the benefi t to risk ratio and maximize the usefulness of cardiac CT.