Incremental Value of Rubidium-82 Positron Emission Tomography for Prognostic Assessment of Known or Suspected Coronary Artery Disease

• Published in: The American journal of cardiology 1997-10, Vol.80 (7), p.865-870
• Main Authors: Marwick, Thomas H, Shan, Kesavan, Patel, Sanjiv, Go, Raymundo T, Lauer, Michael S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Cardiology. Vascular system; Coronary Angiography; Coronary Disease - diagnostic imaging; Coronary Disease - mortality; Coronary heart disease; Disease-Free Survival; Female; Heart; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models; Prospective Studies; Risk Assessment; Rubidium Radioisotopes; Survival Analysis; Tomography, Emission-Computed
• ISSN: 0002-9149; 1879-1913
• DOI: 10.1016/S0002-9149(97)00537-7

Myocardial perfusion imaging using positron emission tomography (PET) may be more accurate for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) than conventional imaging. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic implications of perfusion abnormalities in 685 patients (age 62 ± 11 years, 199 women) studied by PET, and to assess the incremental value of these data in relation to prognostic implications of clinical and angiographic findings. Rubidium (Rb)-82 PET was performed before and after dipyridamole stress. Transient defects were detected in 227 patients (33%), and were moderate or greater in severity (>15% of the left ventricle) in 84 (12%). Resting defects were present in 435 (64%) and were moderate or greater in severity in 216 (32%). The total extent of abnormally perfused myocardium was small (3 months after PET). Normal scans had a 90% event-free survival, compared with 87% in patients with small, 75% with moderate, and 76% with extensive defects (log rank chi-square 30, p