Medical Tests & Procedures Archive

Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) creates a 3D image of the heart and its blood vessels, revealing both obstructive and nonobstructive plaque. Most heart attacks occur when smaller, nonobstructive plaques rupture and form a clot that triggers a heart attack. Used to assess people with stable angina, CCTA may prevent heart attacks by improving how cardiologists find and treat heart disease.

Nearly one in five hospitalized adults is harmed or dies each year due to a diagnostic error. Diagnostic errors include a delay in diagnosis, a wrong diagnosis, or unclear communication about a diagnosis. Tricky-to-diagnose conditions include pneumonia, heart attack, stroke, sepsis, blood clots, and lung cancer. Women, minorities, and older adults may be more vulnerable to diagnostic mistakes. People can lower their risks of diagnostic errors by telling the doctor about their medications, taking a trusted companion to appointments, and seeking second opinions in cases of doubt.

Leg pain may be caused by deep-vein thrombosis (DVT), a blood clot that forms in a deep vein, usually in the leg. Left untreated, the clot may break off, travel to the lungs, and cause blockage in a lung artery, known as pulmonary embolism (PE), which can be life threatening. Diagnosis of DVT and PE may include a review of symptoms, a D-dimer blood test, a leg ultrasound, or a chest CT scan. Both conditions are most often treated with direct-acting oral anticoagulants.

The approach to certain blood tests appears to be shifting. Doctors might stop ordering routine vitamin D screenings for healthy people younger than 75; they might order a one-time combination of lipoprotein(a), C-reactive protein, and LDL (bad) cholesterol tests as a way to predict future heart problems; and they might rely less on standard ranges designated as "normal" in a complete blood count (CBC) test, and instead focus more on comparing someone's latest CBC results to previous CBC tests.