Clinical Evaluation of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Coronary Heart Disease-2 (CE-MARC2)

• Unnecessary invasive coronary angiography [ Time Frame: 12 months ]
  • A negative FFR and positive non-invasive test (either 3T CMR or SPECT/CCT)
  • A negative FFR in a high pre-test risk (61-90%) patient that proceeds directly to invasive angiography in the NICE guidelines-based strategy arm
  • A negative FFR and a negative non-invasive test (either 3T CMR or SPECT/CCT) (i.e. a True Negative strategy result in which the imaging result was 'not believed' by the treating cardiologist)
  • An inconclusive non-invasive test result (either 3T CMR or SPECT/CCT) in which angiography had to be performed to make the diagnosis
  
  

• Major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) [ Time Frame: at 12 months and at 3 years ]

  MACE is defined as one of the following:

  • Death due to cardiovascular cause (including type 3 MI) †
  • Myocardial infarction†
  • Unplanned revascularisation
  • Hospital admission for cardiovascular cause [ACS Troponin -ve, spontaneous myocardial infarction (Type 1)†, Myocardial infarction secondary to ischaemic imbalance (Type 2) †, Myocardial Infarction related to stent thrombosis (Type 4b) †, Arrhythmia, Stroke, Heart failure]. † As defined by the third universal definition of myocardial infarction.
  
  
• Positive angiogram (by FFR) rate for each strategy. [ Time Frame: 12 months ]
  The Positive Angiogram rate will be determined from the proportion of patients in the relevant population who undergo an angiogram within 12 months of randomisation which yields a positive finding by FFR (or QCA where no FFR reading is undertaken)
  
  
• Cost effectiveness analysis [ Time Frame: 3 years ]
  To assess the long term cost-effectiveness of the alternate diagnostic testing strategies, information from the trial will be used to update the economic model developed as part of the original CE-MARC trial. The model will use information from the trial, including on resource use, costs, HRQoL and other clinical outcomes (e.g. on unnecessary tests and MACE events), together with epidemiological, clinical and economic data from other sources to calculate costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) for patients. The economic analysis will use methods consistent with those recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Given the potential difference between diagnostic strategies in terms of mortality, the modelling will adopt a lifetime time horizon to capture any difference.
  
  
• Health-related quality-of-life measures (SAQ-UK; SF12; EQ-5D) [ Time Frame: 3 years ]

  Health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) will be measured at baseline (in clinic), 6 months, 12 months, 2yrs and 3yrs (by post), using the following validated questionnaires:

  • Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) - UK version
  • SF12v2
  • EuroQol (EQ-5D)
  
  
• Complications [ Time Frame: 3 years ]
  Complications - investigational or procedural related only. All complications from all study procedures/investigations will be recorded and reported if they result in an extended length of stay or specific treatment.
  
  

The study is a randomized controlled trial of non-invasive imaging to determine diagnosis and management of patients presenting with suspected stable angina. Despite the widespread availability of non-invasive imaging and guideline-enshrined use of optimal medical therapy (OMT), patients with suspected coronary heart disease (CHD) often end up having invasive coronary angiography early in their disease course. Currently >50% of elective invasive coronary angiograms performed in the UK and US do not lead on to a revascularisation procedure (data from 2008-09 UK Hospital Episode Statistics; American College of Cardiology National Cardiovascular Data Registry (Patel MR, et al., N Engl J Med 2010;362:886-95)). The UK NICE guidelines for the management of chest pain of recent onset (CG95; 2010) could increase this proportion even further. This is inefficient for patients and also of healthcare resources.

More widespread use of non-invasive functional imaging could reduce the rates of unnecessary angiography. We have shown in the CE-MARC study (Lancet 2012) that cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) at 1.5Tesla has a higher diagnostic accuracy for the detection of CHD than single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). CE-MARC 2 will be a three-way randomised controlled trial of patient management in 1200 patients with known or suspected CHD, comparing 3Tesla CMR to SPECT-guided care or NICE guidelines-based management. The primary endpoint will be the reduction of unnecessary invasive angiography (defined by invasive FFR) at 12 months - identified by our expert patients as an important 'patient focused' clinical outcome measure. The secondary objectives will include: 1) assessment of safety of a CMR-guided management strategy 2) cost effectiveness analysis of these strategies.