Imaging the Heart: Is it Cost-Effective?

Excerpt

The congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) has recently released a case study in which issues involved in the costs and effectiveness of cardiac radionuclide imaging are examined (1). The authors, from the Center for Analysis of Health Practices of the Harvard School of Public Health, obtained their information from 1978 to 1979 from questionnaires, personal interviews, review of the medical literature, and from statistics prepared by the National Center for Health Statistics. The study is an excellent review; however, in view of the experience accumulated since 1979, its usefulness in 1983 may be questioned. Nevertheless, the issues raised should