Role of Noninvasive Testing in the Clinical Evaluation of Women With Suspected Coronary Artery Disease.

Role of Noninvasive Testing in the Clinical Evaluation of Women With Suspected Coronary Artery Disease. Consensus Statement From the Cardiac Imaging Committee, Council on Clinical Cardiology, and the Cardiovascular Imaging and Intervention Committee: "Role of Noninvasive Testing in the Clinical Evaluation of Women With Suspected Coronary Artery Disease. Consensus Statement From the Cardiac Imaging Committee, Council on Clinical Cardiology, and the Cardiovascular Imaging and Intervention Committee, Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention, American Heart Association
Jennifer H. Mieres MD, Chair, Leslee J. Shaw PhD, Andrew Arai MD, Matthew J. Budoff MD, Scott D. Flamm MD, W. Gregory Hundley MD, Thomas H. Marwick MD, PhD, Lori Mosca MD, PhD, Ayan R. Patel MD, Miguel A. Quinones MD, Rita F. Redberg MD, MSc, Kathryn A. Taubert PhD, Allen J. Taylor MD, Gregory S. Thomas MD, MPH, and Nanette K. Wenger MD
Abstract--Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality for women in the United States. Coronary heart disease, which includes coronary atherosclerotic disease, myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndromes, and angina, is the largest subset of this mortality, with >240 000 women dying annually from the disease. Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD) is the focus of this consensus statement. Research continues to report underrecognition and underdiagnosis of CAD as contributory to high mortality rates in women. Timely and accurate diagnosis can significantly reduce CAD mortality for women; indeed, once the diagnosis is made, it does appear that current treatments are equally effective at reducing risk in both women and men. As such, noninvasive diagnostic and prognostic testing offers the potential to identify women at increased CAD risk as the basis for institu"