Within the last decade, the number of computed tomography angiography (CTA) examinations have substantially increased among Medicare enrollees.

According to a new study by the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute, radiologists are the main providers of CTA exams.

The Neiman Institute, based in Reston, Virginia, is a leading medical imaging socioeconomic research organization that studies the role and value of radiology and radiologists.

The study, published online in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, examined CTA services in the Medicare fee-for-service population between 2001 and 2014. The researchers found that the number of CTA services grew from 64,846 to more than 1.7 million.

The study, led by Anand Prabhakar, MD, MBA, an affiliate research fellow at the Neiman Institute, also found that the total number of CTA exams per 1,000 Medicare enrollees continuously increased from 2.1 in 2001 to 4.6 in 2013.

The most common body region imaged was the chest. Chest CTA utilization per 1,000 Medicare enrollees increased from 1.2 in 2001 to 25.4 in 2013. Overall, CTA services that involved imaging the chest grew from 36,984 in 2001 to 914,086 in 2014.

“CTA growth in [emergency departments] continues to outpace all other sites of service,” Prabhakar said. “With further advances in CT technology, such as dual source imaging, we anticipate this trend to continue as CTA exams continue to provide information previously only available through catheter directed angiography.”

The findings can help radiology programs ensure that their radiologists are well-trained and refrain from conducting unnecessary CTA exams.