PUBLIC MARKS from adfunk with tags tests & authorities

Millions of people with chest pain enter emergency room limbo, spending up to 24 hours waiting for tests to tell if a heart attack really is brewing or if it’s something less dire. But a new computerized heart scan - CT Angiography - may start easing the wait, giving doctors a faster picture of clogged arteries to help determine who can go home - within just four hours - and who needs more care. Currently, an electrocardiogram, or EKG, is used to catch a heart attack in progress, or an artery so unstable that one’s imminent. But at least half the time, early tests are inconclusive and patients are admitted to the hospital for repeat EKGs, blood tests and other checks that can last 24 hours - and eventually rule out a heart attack two-thirds of the time. Patient anxiety aside, the tab for all that testing surpasses US$10 billion annually.