ABSTRACT
Invasive coronary angiography is currently the standard for
the diagnosis of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD)
in symptomatic patients. However, about 30-40% of all
invasive coronary angiograms (ICA) in the United States are
performed for diagnostic purposes only.1 This is of concern,
especially as diagnostic ICA poses small but serious
risks (i.e., major vascular complications in approximately
0.40%)2 yielding an overall mortality of 0.13%.3-7 Moreover,
the economic burden with an average charge for patients
hospitalized for diagnostic catheterization of $16,838 in 2000
is considerable.8
