Modification of the HEART pathway by adding coronary computed tomography angiography for patients suspected of acute coronary syndrome in the emergency department

The HEART (history, ECG, age, risk factors, troponin) pathway (HP) was developed for identifying low-risk patients for early discharge among patients presenting with chest pain to the emergency department (ED). We investigated whether adding coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) results to selected patients could improve the diagnostic accuracy of the HP. Patients suspected of acute coronary syndrome who had undergone CCTA were included. The HP was modified by adding CCTA results of stenosis of any major epicardial coronary arteries to patients either with 0–3 points and a positive troponin test or with 4–6 points. All patients were reclassified into low and increased risk groups. We then compared the accuracy of the modified HP, the HP, and the HEART score. The primary outcome was the 30-day major adverse cardiac events (MACE). Of the total 1239 patients included, MACE occurred in 206 (16.6%) patients. Adding the CCTA results increased the proportion of patients with low risk (68.7%) compared with the HP (40.0%) and the HEART score (47.4%). Using the modified HP, 50.4% of patients with intermediate-risk by the HEART score could be discharged from the ED and had no MACE. Incorporation of CCTA results improved the accuracy rate for the prediction of MACE compared with the HP and the HEART score (net reclassification improvements were 34.5 and 39.6%, respectively). Using the CCTA after the HP in selected patients could be a better strategy to discharge more patients early and safely.