Prognostic value of normal exercise myocardial perfusion imaging

To assess the prognostic implications, patients with a normal exercise myocardial imaging were followed up. 54 patients underwent exercise myocardial perfusion imaging and exercise ECG test. The images of all of them were normal. Coronary arteriography was performed in 50 patients. Among them 4 patients had single vessel lesion. Follow-up period of all the patients was >1 year (12∼90 Mo.). Likelihood of coronary artery disease (CAD, CAD LK) was estimated before and after test by Bayesian analysis. Mean of the pretest CAD LK was 19% and after test decreased to 13%. The difference between the CAD LK pre- and after test was significant (U = 6.0198, P<0.01). During the follow-up period cardiac event (CE) occurred in only one patient. The CE rate was 0.2% per year. No CE occurred in the 4 patients with CAD and in the 55 patients with positive exercise ECG. The data confirm that a normal stress myocardial imaging predicts an excellent prognosis even in patients with CAD or a high pretest CAD LK or a positive exercise ECG