At this time, Thomas says, the Cleveland Clinic's heart surgeons are unlikely to accept a CT angiogram over the old-fashioned, invasive kind as a roadmap for an operation.

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In fact, while the low-risk patients might not receive any benefit from the test, there is at least some risk from radiation--which is higher for a CT angiogram than a traditional X-ray.

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It should be noted that if you are older, have a history of coronary disease and previously placed cardiac stents (high risk), the coronary CT angiogram would not be an appropriate test as a triage tool in the ER.

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Poon, who is also on the faculty at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, is outfitting Cabrini with the Ferrari of CT angiogram machines, a device from Siemens (nyse: SI - news - people ) that makes pictures with double or quadruple the detail of older models.

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However, people who have the CT scans often end up needing the angiogram anyway.

CNN: Newer heart test may not be better

Miller of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland and her colleagues looked at 291 patients who were scheduled for an angiogram but also had a 64-slice CT scan.

CNN: Newer heart test may not be better