Extra cardiac Findings on CT Coronary Angiography

Incidental extracardiac findings are frequently seen on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) which is increasingly used as an important tool of investigating stable chest pain. Incidental extracardiaac findings are noted during or after the procedure. Some of these findings are important to note and the patient need to be referred for further investigations or at least to be noted as a critical result to his or her referring physician. The objective of this retrospective study was to review, to analyze, and to quantify the spectrum and the prevalence of extracardiac findings in CCTA done in our hospital. These findings were categorized into clinically significant and clinically non-significant findings. The prevalence of the incidental extracardiac findings was calculated. Also, the life-threatening potential findings out of the total was calculated with their prevalence. A total of 486 exams were done in the period between March 2018 and Oct 2022. The average prevalence of overall Incidental extracardiac findings was 26.0% (92% confidence interval; P < .0001) and 12.0% (P < .0001) for clinically significant findings. Clinically significant ones of these findings were most commonly detected in the lungs (65.2%), the abdomen (16.7%), the vessels (8.1%), the mediastinum (10.6%), and in other adjacent anatomical territories (6.4%). The prevalence of acutely life-threatening and malignant cases accounted for 4% (P < .0001). In conclusion, clinically significant and acutely life-threatening ECF are not that common. Conclusion: Incidental extracardiac findings on CT coronary angiogram are may be detected with some of them are critically important. Prompt supervision and early reading will detect these findings with early dealing with them is an important task.