Core HTA on MSCT Coronary Angiography

The EUnetHTA project aims at facilitating HTA information sharing within Europe. In order to achieve this, the development of a standardised structure for the conduction and reporting of HTAs, a HTA Core Model, was considered essential. Work Package (WP) 4 of the EUnetHTA Project developed two applications of the HTA Core Model – one for medical and surgical interventions and the other for diagnostic technologies – which describe the structure, means of rigorously developing, and transparently presenting information in HTA. In this document the feasibility of the HTA Core Model on diagnostic technologies was piloted in an assessment of multislice computed tomography (MSCT) angiography. The pilot Core HTA on MSCT focused on the use of the MSCT angiography in patients with low or moderate risk for coronary artery disease. Patients with the history of acute myocardial infarction or with acute or severe symptoms, as well as screening of asymptomatic patients, were not included in the assessment. Policy questions related to the use of MSCT coronary angiography can vary markedly between countries. The Core HTA covers a wide range of questions to fulfil the different needs. The HTA Core Model can be seen, among other things, as a checklist for producing an HTA on any single topic. The resulting Core HTA may in turn acts either as a stand-alone report that can be utilized in various settings, or as a base from which HTA producers can pick out building blocks for their own national or regional assessments. National, regional or local technology assessments based on a Core HTA may therefore come out differently with different sets of issues included depending on the country and the policy question.