Prognostic significance of normal quantitative planar thallium-201 stress scintigraphy in patients with chest pain
The prognostic significance of normal quantitative planar thallium-201 stress scintigraphy was evaluated in patients with a chest pain syndrome. The prevalence of cardiac events during follow-up was related to the pretest (that is, before stress scintigraphy) likelihood of coronary artery disease determined on the basis of symptoms, age, sex and stress electrocardiography. In a consecutive series of 344 patients who had adequate thallium-201 stress scintigrams, 95 had unequivocally normal studies by quantitative analysis. The pretest likelihood of coronary artery disease in the 95 patients had a bimodal distribution. During a mean follow-up period of 22 +/- 3 months, no patient died. Three patients (3%) had a cardiac event: two of these patients (pretest likelihood of coronary artery disease 54 and 94%) had a nonfatal myocardial infarction 8 and 22 months, respectively, after stress scintigraphy, and one patient (pretest likelihood 98%) underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty 16 months after stress scintigraphy for persisting anginal complaints. Three patients were lost to follow-up; all three had a low pretest likelihood of coronary artery disease. It is concluded that patients with chest pain and normal findings on quantitative thallium-201 scintigraphy have an excellent prognosis. Cardiac events are rare (infarction rate 1% per year) and occur in patients with a moderate to high pretest likelihood of coronary artery disease.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington
- OSTI ID:
- 5150565
- Journal Information:
- J. Am. Coll. Cardiol.; (United States), Vol. 1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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HEART
SCINTISCANNING
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
PAIN
PATIENTS
PROBABILITY
THALLIUM 201
TIME DEPENDENCE
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BODY
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DISEASES
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ORGANS
RADIOISOTOPE SCANNING
RADIOISOTOPES
SECONDS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
SYMPTOMS
THALLIUM ISOTOPES
550601* - Medicine- Unsealed Radionuclides in Diagnostics