AOS: There will be greater availability of CT scans of the coronary arteries

The purpose of the proposed regulation amending the Ordinance of the Minister of Health of November 6, 2013 on guaranteed services in the field of outpatient specialized care (Journal of Laws of 2016, item 357, as amended) is to increase the availability of computed tomography (CT) examination of the coronary arteries. Based on the current provisions of the amended regulation regarding CT scanning of the coronary arteries, patients following coronoplasty or coronary artery bypass grafting are eligible for this benefit.

In Annex No. 2 to the Regulation of the Minister of Health of November 6, 2013 on guaranteed services in the field of outpatient specialty care, in Part VI "Computed tomography services", point 3 concerning the possibility of performing CT scans of the coronary arteries only in patients after coronoplasty or implantation of coronary artery bypass grafts is repealed.

CT of the coronary arteries is a non-invasive imaging study to evaluate the anatomy of the coronary circulation, which provides high efficiency in diagnosing coronary artery stenosis and anomalies of its development. CT of the coronary arteries is an alternative examination to the invasive, more burdensome and more expensive diagnostic procedure of coronarography.

In the opinion of experts, the change in the conditions for the provision of "CT of the coronary arteries" is justified, because in the literature and in the guidelines of scientific societies, the indications for CT of the coronary arteries also include cases where CT of the coronary arteries is to exclude coronary artery disease, not just to diagnose it. CT of the coronary arteries should be performed in clinically ambiguous cases to exclude coronary artery disease and other cardiac and mediastinal pathologies.

Source: RCL