When coronary artery disease is suspected, the question arises as to the best diagnostic procedure. Unnecessary invasive examinations must be avoided , but at the same time the individual risk must be reliably assessed. A modern diagnostic procedure based on the principles of auscultation could close this diagnostic care gap.
New methods for better CHD risk assessment have been called for for some time. Exercise ECG has been downgraded in the 2019 ESC guidelines and is now only recommended as an alternative test if no other noninvasive or invasive imaging modalities are available. Consequently, there is a need to fundamentally rethink noninvasive CHD diagnostics. Swedish-Danish medical device manufacturer Acarix AB offers a new ultrasensitive acoustic exclusion test. The CADScor® system uses a highly sensitive microphone to detect flow noise caused by atherosclerotic coronary plaques. A small recorder is attached to the skin directly above the heart and analyzes the flow sounds in four measurement series. Using further clinical information, the device then calculates a CHD risk score (“CAD score”). With a high negative predictive value (NPV) of 97.2%, the result can be used to rule out obstructive CAD and set the further diagnostic and therapeutic course. In patients with stable chest pain, the Acarix CADScor® system is thus a simple and safe method to rule out coronary artery disease.
Source: “CHD exclusion in stable chest pain,” Acarix AB / Bodenwinkler MedTec GmbH, 2021.
CARDIOVASC 2021; 20(2): 33
