Objective To determine whether coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) should be performed in patients with any clinical probability of coronary artery disease (CAD), and whether the diagnostic performance differs between subgroups of patients. Design Prospectively designed meta-analysis of individual patient data from prospective diagnostic accuracy studies. Data sources Medline, Embase, and Web of Science for published studies. Unpublished studies were identified via direct contact with participating investigators. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Prospective diagnostic accuracy studies that compared coronary CTA with coronary angiography as the reference standard, using at least a 50% diameter reduction as a cutoff value for obstructive CAD. All patients needed to have a clinical indication for coronary angiography due to suspected CAD, and both tests had to be performed in all patients. Results had to be provided using 2×2 or 3×2 cross tabulations for the comparison of CTA with coronary angiography. Primary outcomes were the positive and negative predictive values of CTA as a function of clinical pretest probability of obstructive CAD, analysed by a generalised linear mixed model; calculations were performed including and excluding non-diagnostic CTA results. The no-treat/treat threshold model was used to determine the range of appropriate pretest probabilities for CTA. The threshold model was based on obtained post-test probabilities of less than 15% in case of negative CTA and above 50% in case of positive CTA. Sex, angina pectoris type, age, and number of computed tomography detector rows were used as clinical variables to analyse the diagnostic performance in relevant subgroups. Results Individual patient data from 5332 patients from 65 prospective diagnostic accuracy studies were retrieved. For a pretest probability range of 7-67%, the treat threshold of more than 50% and the no-treat threshold of less than 15% post-test probability were obtained using CTA. At a pretest probability of 7%, the positive predictive value of CTA was 50.9% (95% confidence interval 43.3% to 57.7%) and the negative predictive value of CTA was 97.8% (96.4% to 98.7%); corresponding values at a pretest probability of 67% were 82.7% (78.3% to 86.2%) and 85.0% (80.2% to 88.9%), respectively. The overall sensitivity of CTA was 95.2% (92.6% to 96.9%) and the specificity was 79.2% (74.9% to 82.9%). CTA using more than 64 detector rows was associated with a higher empirical sensitivity than CTA using up to 64 rows (93.4% v 86.5%, P=0.002) and specificity (84.4% v 72.6%, P<0.001). The area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve for CTA was 0.897 (0.889 to 0.906), and the diagnostic performance of CTA was slightly lower in women than in with men (area under the curve 0.874 (0.858 to 0.890) v 0.907 (0.897 to 0.916), P<0.001). The diagnostic performance of CTA was slightly lower in patients older than 75 (0.864 (0.834 to 0.894), P=0.018 v all other age groups) and was not significantly influenced by angina pectoris type (typical angina 0.895 (0.873 to 0.917), atypical angina 0.898 (0.884 to 0.913), non-anginal chest pain 0.884 (0.870 to 0.899), other chest discomfort 0.915 (0.897 to 0.934)). Conclusions In a no-treat/treat threshold model, the diagnosis of obstructive CAD using coronary CTA in patients with stable chest pain was most accurate when the clinical pretest probability was between 7% and 67%. Performance of CTA was not influenced by the angina pectoris type and was slightly higher in men and lower in older patients. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42012002780.

Pericardial cysts are rare lesions. These benign anomalies are located in the middle mediastinum. In this article, we present a 24-year-old man who was referred to the emergency department with dyspnea and persistent cough. In physical exam, no abnormality was found. His past medical history was normal. His trans-thoracic echocardiogram showed an echo-lucent space next to the right atrium at the right cardiophrenic angle. No pericardial effusion was found. The patient underwent surgery. After midsternotomy, a huge cyst measuring approximately 13 × 8 × 5 cm in diameters was found on the right side and outside the pericardium that was totally excised. After 5 days, the patient was discharged and pathologic report confirmed preoperative diagnosis of pericardial cyst. Giant pericardial cysts are not common and in this report, we will review published case reports.

A 63-year-old man, who underwent conventional coronary angiography, because of a finding of a confusing vascular structure, was referred for 64-multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT). His MSCT showed bilateral coronary-pulmonary artery fistula from both right and left coronary arteries via a dilated fistulous vascular malformation. Considering its reasonably high spatial and temporal resolutions, MSCT is regarded as a valuable technique to clarify the diagnosis in incidentally found equivocal cases of coronary fistula in conventional coronary angiography.

Background Osteoid osteoma has a nidus surrounded by sclerotic bone with a size usually less than 20 mm. Its diagnosis is made on typical presentation of nocturnal pain and imaging findings. Excision of the niduses, which are often small and difficult to precisely identify, sometimes may result in resection of surrounding normal bone. Minimally invasive percutaneous treatments have been used to try to minimize resection of normal bone. Although minimally invasive radiofrequency ablation generally relieves pain, its ability to relieve pain is less well known in locations other than lower extremity long bones. Questions/purposes We determined the pain relief and complication rates after radiofrequency ablation of osteoid osteomas presenting in atypical locations and followed patients to assess possible recurrence or late complications. Patients and MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed 21 patients with osteoid osteomas in unusual locations (eg, hip, radioulnar joint, and proximal phalanx) in whom we used radiofrequency ablation. Postoperative activities were not restricted for any of the patients. We assessed the time for patients to become symptom free, their activity status, and possible recurrence or complications. The minimum clinical followup was 12 months (mean, 27.8 months; range, 12-37 months).