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Improving Quality and Communication in Cardiac Imaging: The Coronary Artery Disease Reporting and Data System (CAD-RADS™)

  • Cardiac Computed Tomography (T Villines, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Cardiovascular Imaging Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

To critically examine the Coronary Artery Disease Reporting and Data System (CAD-RADS™) lexicon and its nuances, with representative case examples provided for each of the major CAD-RADS classification categories and modifiers.

Recent Findings

CAD-RADS is a recently developed multi-disciplinary, multi-society standardized reporting system for coronary CTA based on scientific data and expert consensus from leaders in cardiac imaging.

Summary

CAD-RADS was developed to improve quality and communication in cardiac imaging, and to provide management recommendations based on actionable information from the coronary CTA imaging report. Widespread adoption of CAD-RADS in clinical practice will help maximize the clinical impact of coronary CTA for the care of patients with acute and stable chest pain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, 620 John Paul Jones Circle, Portsmouth, VA, 23708, USA

    Christopher D. Maroules

  2. Department of Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

    Christopher D. Maroules, Harold Goerne & Suhny Abbara

  3. Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute, Baptist Health South Florida, Miami, FL, USA

    Christopher D. Maroules & Ricardo C. Cury

Authors
  1. Christopher D. Maroules
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  2. Harold Goerne
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  3. Suhny Abbara
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  4. Ricardo C. Cury
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher D. Maroules.

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Conflict of Interest

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, nor the United States Government.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Cardiac Computed Tomography

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary Figure 1

Process for applying CAD-RADS in clinical practice. (JPEG 61 kb)

Supplementary Figure 2

CAD-RADS 0. Curved multi-planar reformat images of the RCA (left), LAD (middle), and LCX (right) demonstrating absence of coronary plaque and no stenosis. The major coronary branch vessels measuring >1.5 mm in diameter (not shown) were also normal with no plaque or stenosis. (JPEG 163 kb)

Supplementary Figure 3

Curved multi-planar reformat image (left) and axial image (right) demonstrating motion artifact which obscures the proximal and mid-RCA segments (arrows). Evaluation of the RCA on other reconstructed phases demonstrated a similar artifact. Non-obstructive plaque was present in the proximal LAD (25–49% stenosis) and in the mid-LCX (less than 25% stenosis). The other coronary segments were normal. Since the visualized coronary segments were significant for only non-obstructive plaque with less than 50% stenosis, this case would be coded CAD-RADS N, with “N” used as an assessment category. Contrarily, if there were moderate stenosis in the proximal LAD (50–69%), this case would be coded as CAD-RADS 3/N, with “N” used as a modifier. (JPEG 84 kb)

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Maroules, C.D., Goerne, H., Abbara, S. et al. Improving Quality and Communication in Cardiac Imaging: The Coronary Artery Disease Reporting and Data System (CAD-RADS™). Curr Cardiovasc Imaging Rep 10, 20 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-017-9417-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-017-9417-1

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