Diagnostic accuracy of coronary computed tomography angiography for the evaluation of obstructive coronary artery disease in patients referred for transcatheter aortic valve implantation: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) for the evaluation of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients referred for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). METHODS: EMBASE, PubMed/MEDLINE, and CENTRAL were searched for studies reporting accuracy of CCTA for the evaluation of obstructive CAD compared with invasive coronary angiography (ICA) as the reference standard. QUADAS-2 tool was used to assess the risk of bias. A bivariate random effects model was used to analyze, pool, and plot the diagnostic performance measurements across studies. Pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive ( + LR) and negative (−LR) likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and hierarchical summary ROC curve (HSROC) were evaluated. Prospero registration number: CRD42021252527. RESULTS: Fourteen studies (2533 patients) were included. In the intention-to-diagnose patient-level analysis, sensitivity and specificity for CCTA were 97% (95% CI: 94–98%) and 68% (95% CI: 56–68%), respectively, and + LR and −LR were 3.0 (95% CI: 2.1–4.3) and 0.05 (95% CI: 0.03 – 0.09), with DOR equal to 60 (95% CI: 30–121). The area under the HSROC curve was 0.96 (95% CI: 0.94–0.98). No significant difference in sensitivity was found between single-heartbeat and other CT scanners (96% (95% CI: 90 – 99%) vs. 97% (95% CI: 94–98%) respectively; p = 0.37), whereas the specificity of single-heartbeat scanners was higher (82% (95% CI: 66–92%) vs. 60% (95% CI: 46 – 72%) respectively; p < 0.0001). Routine CCTA in the pre-TAVI workup could save 41% (95% CI: 34 – 47%) of ICAs if a disease prevalence of 40% is assumed. CONCLUSIONS: CCTA proved an excellent diagnostic accuracy for assessing obstructive CAD in patients referred for TAVI; the use of single-heartbeat CT scanners can further improve these findings. KEY POINTS: • CCTA proved to have an excellent diagnostic accuracy for assessing obstructive CAD in patients referred for TAVI. • Routine CCTA in the pre-TAVI workup could save more than 40% of ICAs. • Single-heartbeat CT scanners had higher specificity than others in the assessment of obstructive CAD in patients referred for TAVI. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00330-022-08603-y.