Detection of coronary artery disease by exercise radionuclide ventriculography

Exercise first-pass radionuclide ventriculography was performed on 65 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and 18 control subjects with normal coronary artery. Left ventricle (LV) was divided into 5 sectors in radial, and volume curves were generated for whole LV and each sector for estimating LVEF and time to end systole (TES). The differences of TES between whole LV and each sector were calculated and these 5 differences were averaged (Variation of TES). We defined this Variation of TES as an index of LV asynchrony, and used for detection of CAD. The overall sensitivity and specificity for identifying CAD were 63% and 83% (LVEF during exercise), 51% and 83% (ΔLVEF). Variation of TES during exercise had a sensitivity and a specificity of 88% and 83%, and was more sensitive than both LVEF during exercise and ΔLVEF (p<0.01). In conclusion, variation of TES was a good marker of LV asynchrony and useful for the detection of CAD. (author)