Comparative impact of scintigraphic parameters and B-type natriuretic peptide for the prediction of major cardiac events in the QGS-prognostic value in the elderly (Q-PROVE) study

Prognostic accuracy of myocardial perfusion imaging in octogenarians

BACKGROUND

Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) has an established role in the work-up of coronary artery disease (CAD), but its comparative accuracy is debated in elderly patients. We examined a large administrative database to appraise the performance of MPI in octogenarians.

METHODS

Our institutional database was queried for patients undergoing MPI without recent coronary revascularization or myocardial infarction (MI). We compared baseline, procedural, diagnostic, and prognostic features in patients aged < 80 vs ≥ 80 years with bivariate and propensity-adjusted analyses.

RESULTS

From 13,254 patients, 12,737 (96.1%) were < 80 years old and 517 (3.9%) ≥ 80 years. Octogenarians were less likely to undergo exercise testing, had more severe and extensive myocardial ischemia (all P < 0.001), whereas CAD was more prevalent and diffuse in them (P = 0.012), and major adverse cardiac events more common during follow-up (P = 0.009). Diagnostic accuracy of MPI was similar or higher in octogenarians than in younger patients (e.g., sensitivity for three-vessel disease 92% in octogenarians vs 91% in younger patients), as was prognostic accuracy. Using propensity-matched analyses, MPI again yielded satisfactory prognostic accuracy in octogenarians.

CONCLUSIONS

Use of MPI in octogenarians is associated with similar or better prognostic accuracy than in younger subjects.

Sex-specific approach to gated SPECT volumetric analysis after stress and at rest to detect high-risk coronary artery disease

OBJECTIVES

To determine the role of quantitative analysis of poststress and resting left ventricular function using sex-specific criteria to detect high-risk coronary artery disease (CAD) as defined by the Duke CAD Prognostic Index.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Stress technetium-99m-sestamibi-gated single-photon emission computed tomography and coronary angiography were performed in 407 consecutive patients (300 men, 107 women) with suspected CAD. The cut-off point for high-risk CAD was defined as a Duke CAD Prognostic Index of 42. The stress-to-rest ratios of end-diastolic volume (rEDV) and end-systolic volume (rESV) were analyzed. In 102 patients with high-risk CAD, the summed difference scores, rEDV and rESV, were greater than in 305 patients with low-risk to intermediate-risk CAD. The receiver operating characteristic curves revealed that the optimal cut-off points for rEDV and rESV to detect high-risk CAD were 1.10 and 1.11, respectively. Sex-specific rEDV was 1.08 in men, 1.11 in women, and sex-specific rESV was 1.09 in men and 1.20 in women. Multivariate discriminant analysis showed that the combination of sex-specific rEDV, sex-specific rESV, and summed difference scores greater than or equal to 8 best identified high-risk CAD, with a sensitivity of 75% and specificity of 76%.

CONCLUSION

The addition of a sex-specific approach to left ventricular functional analysis using gated single-photon emission computed tomography on conventional perfusion analysis, may help better identify patients with high-risk CAD as defined by the Duke CAD Prognostic Index.