Randomised Controlled Trial to Assess Whether Computed Tomography Cardiac Angiography Can Improve Invasive Coronary Angiography in Bypass Surgery Patients

The BYPASS‐CTCA trial is a single‐centre, randomised controlled trial, which plans to recruit 688 patients who have had previous bypass grafts and require invasive coronary angiography over a period of 30 months. Patients will be randomised to receive either computed tomography cardiac angiography (CTCA) prior to their invasive coronary angiogram, or invasive coronary angiography alone. The primary endpoints will be the incidence of contrast induced nephropathy, the duration of the invasive coronary angiographic procedure and patient satisfaction. A number of secondary endpoints will also be looked at. Findings from BYPASS‐CTCA will potentially demonstrate that a CTCA prior to invasive coronary angiography in this cohort of patients reduces the incidence of contrast‐induced kidney injury, the length of procedure and improves patients satisfaction. The results of this trial may influence future clinical practice guidelines in coronary artery bypass graft patients undergoing invasive coronary procedures.