Treadmill exercise testing, part II

Angiographic prevalence of high-risk coronary artery disease in patient subsets (CASS)

The prevalence of coronary artery stenoses greater than or equal to 70% or left main stenosis greater than or equal to 50% was evaluated in 20,391 patients who underwent angiography in the Coronary Artery Surgery Study from 1975-1979. After the patients with unstable angina or myocardial infarction were excluded, the disease prevalence in the 8157 patients with definite angina, probable angina, and nonspecific chest pain was 93%, 66% and 14% in men and 72%, 36% and 6% in women (p less than 0.001). The age and sex of the patients and character of chest pain were important determinants of disease prevalence and severity. Left main or three-vessel coronary disease occurred in more than 50% of middle-aged men and older women with definite angina and in more than 50% of men who had probable angina and were older than 60 years of age. In contrast, left main coronary disease occurred in less than 2% of 1282 men and less than 1% of 1397 women with nonspecific chest pain regardless of age. In this latter patient subset, less than 5% of men and less than 1% of women in each decade under 60 years had left main or three-vessel coronary artery disease. Thus, high-risk coronary disease is common in middle-aged patients with definite angina and older patients with probable angina, but is rare in patients with nonspecific chest pain. Indications and guidelines for diagnostic noninvasive tests and coronary angiography could be based on these results.

Diagnostic quantification of CASS (coronary artery surgery study) clinical and exercise test results in determining presence and extent of coronary artery disease. A multivariate approach

Multivariate linear discriminant function analysis on maximal exercise treadmill and angiographic data from 500 men with definite angina, 584 men with probable angina and 267 men with nonspecific chest pain identified independent predictors of presence and extent of coronary disease. We used the discriminant function to develop a clinical risk index and a clinical and exercise risk index for each patient subset. Probability curves were generated to predict the presence and extent of coronary disease. In definite angina cases, exercise testing provided more diagnostic information than clinical data alone. However, in the 10% of cases with the smallest risk indexes, half of the patients had coronary disease and one-quarter had multivessel disease. In men with probable angina, exercise testing added substantially more diagnostic information than clinical data. The probability of multivessel disease was reduced to less than 10% for 30% of patients with probable angina, an important diagnostic contribution. Exercise testing in men with nonspecific chest pain was of limited value because disease prevalence was already low.

Pseudoischemic "false positive" S-T segment changes induced by hyperventilation in patients with mitral valve prolapse

Hyperventilation-induced S-T segment changes that simulate myocardial ischemia have previously been noted, but the origin of this electrocardiographic finding has never been defined. To investigate further the basis for this response, the records were reviewed of 1,678 consecutive patients who underwent forced hyperventilation for 90 seconds and treadmill exercise testing. Twenty-eight patients (1.7 percent) were identified in whom hyperventilation resulted in ischemic-appearing S-T segment changes, and follow-up was possible in 21 (17 women, 4 men). Of the 21 patients, 16 (76 percent), including 15 (88 percent) of the 17 women, had evidence of mitral valve prolapse, 6 on auscultation alone, 2 on echocardiography alone and 6 with a combination of studies. Ten of the 21 patients had a negative exercise test; of the 11 patients who had a positive exercise test, only 1 had angiographic evidence of coronary arterial narrowing. The finding of ischemic-appearing S-T segment changes in response to forced hyperventilation has a high predictive value for the presence of mitral valve prolapse, particularly in women. The possible association of autonomic factors and mitral valve prolapse in the pathogenesis of an abnormal response to hyperventilation is discussed.

Normal electrocardiographic waveform characteristics during treadmill exercise testing

Forty asymptomatic male patients at low risk for cardiovascular disease completed maximal treadmill testing. Electrocardiograms from leads CC5, CM5, V5, Yh and Z were recorded across multiple pretest, exercise and recovery conditions. ECG waveforms were subsequently digitized, averaged and processed to provide Q-, R-, S- and T-wave amplitudes, ST-segment means and slopes, and QS- and RT-interval durations. Average R-wave amplitude increased during early exercise and then dramatically decreased to maximum effort. Average S-wave amplitude became greater as exercise progressed. Average J junction was slightly positive before exercise, became negative during exercise (except lead Z) and returned to zero after exercise. The ST-segment slope increased dramatically with progressive exercise. The response of T-wave amplitude, RT and QS intervals are also described. Separately, 22 asymptomatic male subjects each completed two maximal treadmill tests 2 weeks apart. ECG data acquisition and processing were similar to those noted above. Pooled, within-subject estimates of variability were computed for the ECG leads, ECG measurements and protocol conditions. These variability estimates are useful for interpreting ECG responses to exercise testing.