Canadian Cardiovascular Society

Partners and affiliates

Choosing Wisely Canada recommendations

On April 2, 2014, the society released a list of "Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question" as part of the Choosing Wisely Canada campaign. CCS recommendations include:

1. Don’t perform stress cardiac imaging or advanced non-invasive imaging when initially evaluating patients when there are no cardiac symptoms present unless the patient has high-risk markers.

2. Don’t perform annual stress cardiac imaging or advanced non-invasive imaging in asymptomatic patients in a routine follow-up.

3. Don’t perform stress cardiac imaging or advanced non-invasive imaging in pre-operative assessment for patients who are scheduled to undergo low-risk non-cardiac surgery.

4. Don’t perform echocardiography in routine follow-up for adult patients who have mild, asymptomatic native valve disease with no change in signs or symptoms.

5. Don’t order annual electrocardiograms (ECGs) in patients who are low-risk and do not have any symptoms.

Canadian Cardiovascular Society Angina Grading Scale

Main article: Canadian Cardiovascular Society grading of angina pectoris

The Canadian Cardiovascular Society Angina Grading Scale is commonly used for the classification of severity of angina:

• Class I – Angina only during strenuous or prolonged physical activity
• Class II – Slight limitation, with angina only during vigorous physical activity
• Class III – Symptoms with everyday living activities, i.e., moderate limitation
• Class IV – Inability to perform any activity without angina or angina at rest, i.e., severe limitation

It is similar to the New York Heart Association Functional Classification of heart failure.

References

References

1. http://www.ccs.ca (official site)
2. (2014). "Engaging physicians and patients in conversations about unnecessary tests and procedures: Choosing Wisely Canada". Canadian Medical Association Journal.
3. (2011). "ACCF/ASE/AHA/ASNC/HFSA/HRS/SCAI/SCCM/SCCT/SCMR 2011 Appropriate Use Criteria for Echocardiography". Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
4. (2010). "ACCF/SCCT/ACR/AHA/ASE/ASNC/NASCI/SCAI/SCMR 2010 Appropriate Use Criteria for Cardiac Computed Tomography". Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
5. (2013). "Canadian Cardiovascular Society Position Statement on Radiation Exposure from Cardiac Imaging and Interventional Procedures". Canadian Journal of Cardiology.
6. (2012). "U.S. Preventive Services Task Force: Screening for coronary heart disease with electrocardiography".
7. "Archived copy".