Professor Michelle Williams
British Heart Foundation Intermediate Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh
We estimate around 6,000 heart attacks in the UK have been avoided in the last decade,1 thanks to the introduction of new a routine heart scan.
Coronary computed tomography angiogram (CCTA) scans help doctors to identify coronary heart disease, narrowing and blockages in the arteries that supply the heart with blood. If left untreated, coronary heart disease can lead to a heart attack.
Coronary computed tomography angiogram trial
Since 2016, UK guidelines have recommended CCTA scans as one of the first tests for someone experiencing new chest pain. The results of our SCOT-HEART trial2 fed into the evidence for the update. Now, our research, part funded by the British Heart Foundation and published in The Lancet, shows that the benefits of CCTA scans extend as far as a decade beyond a patient’s scan.
The benefits of CCTA
scans extend as far as a
decade beyond a patient’s scan.
CCTA scans reduce heart attacks
Our 10-year follow up of the SCOT-HEART trial3 found that the number of non-fatal heart attacks in the group who had a CCTA scan was 28% lower compared to those who had standard tests. Applied across the UK population and the current rate of CCTA use, we estimate that this equates to 6,000 heart attacks avoided over the last 10 years.1
This is likely due to more people in the CCTA group being prescribed preventative medicines. At 10 years, 56% of the group were taking medicines — including aspirin and statins — to reduce their risk of a heart attack compared to 49% in the standard tests group.
Improving long-term outcomes for more people
Early results showed that people who had CCTA scans were more likely to undergo additional proceduresin the first year after their scan. By five years, the number of procedures had evened out between the groups, but the CCTA group were less likely to have had a heart attack and more likely to be taking preventative drugs.
However, access to CCTA scans remains variable across the country. We want to see more opportunities for testing across the UK to address this, such as the community diagnostic hubs being rolled out by the NHS in England, so that more people can benefit from this game-changing innovation.
[1] Piercy L. 2025. British Heart Foundation. Routine scans prevent thousands of heart attacks.
[2] The Lancet, Volume 385, Issue 9985, 2383 – 2391. CT coronary angiography in patients with suspected angina due to coronary heart disease (SCOT-HEART): an open-label, parallel-group, multicentre trial.
[3] Williams Michelle C et al. The Lancet, Volume 405, Issue 10475, 329 – 337. Coronary CT angiography-guided management of patients with stable chest pain: 10-year outcomes from the SCOT-HEART randomised controlled trial in Scotland.
