Korean J Nucl Med.  1997 Mar;31(1):67-72.

Prognostic Implication of Normal Myocardial Perfusion Scintigraphy in Patients with Chest Pain

• Song HC
• Min JJ
• Bom HS
• Kim JY

Abstract

Myocardial scintigraphy is a widely used noninvasive procedure with high sensitivity for the detection of patients with suspected coronary artery disease. The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic value of a normal myocardial scintigraphy in 292 patients (150 males, 142 females, mean age 53+/-12 years) with chest pain who were followed from 7 to 58 (mean 25) months. Myocardial SPECT was performed with Tc-99m MIBI in 173 patients, with Tc-99m tetrofosmin in 74 patients and with T1-201 in 45 patients. During the follow-up period, there were 2 cardiac deaths and 2 nonfatal myocardial infarctions resulting in cardiac event rate of 1.37% (0.66% per year). The cardiac event rate was not different in patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries (1/30, 3.3%) and in those who had significant coronary a disease (2/27, 7.4%) (p=0.60). In conclusion, patients with chest pain and normal myocardial scintigraphy have a low cardiac event rate, and there was no significant difference of cardiac event rates between patients with normal and abnormal coronary angiograms.

Keyword

normal myocardial perfusion scintigraphy; prognosis; coronary artery disease; cardiac event

MeSH Terms

Chest Pain*
Coronary Artery Disease
Coronary Vessels
Death
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Male
Myocardial Infarction
Myocardial Perfusion Imaging
Perfusion Imaging*
Perfusion*
Prognosis
Thorax*
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon