Grant: Operating Grant

Every year, millions of patients worldwide have surgery on their hips, knees, or major blood vessels to improve their ability to walk and their quality of life. Approximately 5% of these patients having surgery will suffer a heart attack or another major heart related problem. These patients may have blockages present in their heart arteries that puts them at risk of a heart attack after surgery. These blockages often go unrecognized because people with a limited ability to walk usually do not move around enough to stress the heart and produce heart related symptoms. Therefore, physicians can underestimate a patient's risk of a heart complication around the time of surgery when they rely upon a patient's symptoms. This study is assessing a new way of imaging the heart arteries and detecting artery blockages. Our new method uses a computed tomography or CT scanner to study the heart. It will evaluate how well blockages seen on the CT scan predict the likelihood of patients developing heart related complications after surgery. Patients can participate in the study if they are having major surgery and are at risk of having artery blockages. For the CT scan procedure, patients will lie down in the scanner and be attached to a heart monitor. Patients will be instructed to hold their breath for the duration of the scan that will last around 10 to 15 seconds. Shortly after the scan is complete, patients will be able to leave the hospital. The CT scan of the heart will be performed approximately one to two weeks before a patient's surgery. We will follow patients after surgery to determine if they suffer any heart complications. If our study shows that a CT test prior to surgery can allow physicians to improve their estimates of a patient's risk of a serious heart complication around the time of surgery this could substantially improve patient care.