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Low-Risk Patients With Chest Pain in the Emergency Department: Negative 64-MDCT Coronary Angiography May Reduce Length of Stay and Hospital Charges

¹ Department of Radiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, 1959 NE Pacific St., RR210, Box 357115, Seattle, WA 98195.
² Department of Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA.
³ Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Division of Biostatistics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA.

OBJECTIVE. The current standard-of-care workup of low-risk patients with chest pain in an emergency department takes 12-36 hours and is expensive. We hypothesized that negative 64-MDCT coronary angiography early in the workup of such patients may enable a shorter length of stay and reduce charges.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The standard-of-care evaluation consisted of serial cardiac enzyme tests, ECGs, and stress testing. After informed consent, we added cardiac CT early in the standard-of-care workup of 53 consecutive patients. Fifty patients had negative CT findings and were included in this series. The length of stay and charges were analyzed using actual patient data for all patients in the standard-of-care workup and for two earlier discharge scenarios based on negative cardiac CT results: First, CT plus serial enzyme tests and ECGs during an observation period followed by discharge if all were negative; and second, CT plus one set of enzyme tests and one ECG followed by discharge if all were negative. Comparisons were made using paired Student's t tests.

RESULTS. For standard of care and the two CT-based earlier discharge analyses, the mean lengths of stay were 25.4, 14.3, and 5.0 hours; mean charges were $7,597, $6,153, and $4,251. Length of stay and charges were both significantly less (p < 0.001) for the two CT-based analyses.

CONCLUSION. In low-risk patients with chest pain, discharge from the emergency department based on negative cardiac CT, enzyme tests, and ECG may significantly decrease both length of stay and hospital charges compared with the standard of care.

Keywords: chest pain • cost analysis • CT coronary angiography • emergency department • length of stay

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