This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on Web of Science (1)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Computed Tomography  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: Drs Siegel and Evens¹ note that electron beam computed tomography (EBCT) is being used to diagnose atherosclerosis. However, their statement, "At best, however, there is only a moderate correlation between the quantity of calcification and the presence of stenosis and its severity," is incorrect. The reference for this statement is Fiorino's review of EBCT and coronary calcium.² However, the correlation of coronary calcium with angiographic stenosis is substantial in studies of EBCT,^3-5 with r values ranging from 0.85 to 0.96 (P<.001 for both values).

Fiorino's article was based on a MEDLINE review of EBCT-related articles published from 1966 to 1997. His article notes that the reproducibility of calcium measurements by EBCT has been challenged, and elaborates on the potential shortcomings of EBCT for detecting coronary calcium, but he conspicuously avoids the pertinent positive conclusions made in these articles. Other experts believe that EBCT-detected coronary calcium . . . [Full Text of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLE

Advances in the Use of Computed Tomography
Marilyn J. Siegel and Ronald G. Evens
JAMA. 1999;281(14):1252-1254.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT