Nationwide Trends of Gatekeeper to Invasive Coronary Angiography in Suspected Coronary Artery Disease.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Real-world trends in the utility and type of gatekeeping studies in invasive coronary angiography (ICA) requires further investigation.

METHODS

We identified outpatients who underwent noninvasive cardiac tests or directly ICA for suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) from the nationwide Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service-National Patient Sample database between 2012 and 2018.

RESULTS

Among 71,401 patients, the percentage of patients who were evaluated for suspected CAD was 34.7% for treadmill test (TMT), 4.2% for single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), 24.2% for coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), 1.6% for multiple gatekeepers, and 32.3% for directly ICA without noninvasive studies. The proportion of CCTA as a gatekeeper showed linear increase, (18.6% in 2012 and 28.8% in 2018; p<0.001), while those of TMT, SPECT, and direct ICA have decreased (p<0.001, p=0.03, and p<0.001, respectively). The overall incidence of downstream ICA after gatekeeper was 13.8% (6,662/48,346), and SPECT showed higher ICA rate in pairwise comparison with TMT and CCTA (p<0.001). Patients who performed gatekeepers before ICA showed higher rate of subsequent PCI (34.7% vs. 32.3%; p<0.001) and CABG (3.5% vs. 1.0%; p<0.001), compared to those who directly underwent ICA, and CCTA was associated with higher revascularization rate after ICA in pairwise comparison with TMT and SPECT (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Nationwide database demonstrated that CCTA is utilized increasingly as a gatekeeper for ICA and is associated with high revascularization rate after ICA in outpatients with suspected CAD.