Impact of hypertension on the diagnostic accuracy of coronary angiography with computed tomography

Objective Hypertension induces coronary artery disease (CAD) and progression of arterial wall calcification. As coronary calcifications may cause artefacts in 64-slice computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA), we sought to determine the diagnostic accuracy of CTCA in patients with and without arterial hypertension. Methods Eighty-five consecutive patients with suspected CAD underwent CTCA, calcium-scoring and conventional coronary angiography, and were grouped as hypertensive (28 women, 31 men, mean age 65 ± 9 years, age range 49–82 years) or normotensive patients (10 women, 16 men, mean age 62 ± 11 years, age range 39–77 years). On an intention-to-diagnose-basis, no coronary segment was excluded and non-evaluative segments were rated as false positive. Results Per-patient sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) in the hypertensive group were 91.4, 83.3, 88.9, and 86.9%, while the respective values in the normotensive group were 100, 78.9, 63.6, and 100% (P = 0.42, 0.71, 0.05, and 0.15). In the hypertensive group the prevalence of CAD was 59% and the mean calcium-score was 256; respective values in the normotensive group were 27% and 69, (P < 0.01, and < 0.05 vs. hypertensives). Conclusions Although hypertensives have significantly higher coronary calcifications, sensitivity and specificity are comparably high as in normotensives. The prevalence of CAD is higher in hypertensives and brings about a trend towards a lower NPV and a higher PPV.