Quantitative stress radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging can indicate significant coronary artery stenosis

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of quantitative assessment of radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging in indicating signifi cant coronary artery stenosis.MethodsSeven hundred and twenty patients with suspicion of coronary artery disease were retrospec-tively identifi ed. All had undergone cardiac catheterization within a 6-month period aft er having had a one-day pharmacologic stress radionuclide myocardial perfusion scan. Important parameters analyzed included myocardial perfusion, wall motion, wall thickening severity scores of 3 coronary artery terri-tories and left ventricular ejection fraction values. Th ese parameters were subsequently compared with currently the gold standard for cardiac catheterization. Results Binary logistic regression analysis found that patients who had signifi cant coronary artery ste-nosis had signifi cantly higher values in all quantitative parameters (mean severity scores in myocardial perfusion, wall motion, wall thickening in most of the 3 coronary artery territories) than those in the non-signifi cant group (p<0.05) with the exception of the wall motion severity score of the left circumfl ex artery. Similarly, patients with higher perfusion severity scores had a higher probability of signifi cant coronary artery stenosis in all three coronary arteries. ConclusionQuantitative parameters obtained from stress radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging can indicate signifi cant coronary artery stenosis in all three main coronary arteries at a level comparable with that of cardiac catheterization which is currently the gold standard method but it is superior to cardiac catherization due to less invasive and less expensive. Higher perfusion severity scores indicate a higher probability of signifi cant coronary artery stenosis. Chiang Mai Medical Journal 2019;58(3):123-32.