Does myocardial bridging of the left anterior descending artery cause ischemia detectable by exercise thallium-201 scintigraphy?
Myocardial bridging of the left anterior descending artery does not appear to cause exercise-induced ischemia as assessed by thallium-201 scintigraphy.
Seven patients with myocardial bridging of the left anterior descending coronary artery were evaluated by mens of thallium-201 exercise scintigraphy. The degree of systolic narrowing was 60-70% in five patients and 75-80% in two patients. All patients had presented with chest pain. The resting electrocardiogram was normal in six patients; there were ST segment and T-wave abnormalities in one patient. No patient complained of chest pain during exercise. The exercise electrocardiogram was negative in six patients and inconclusive in one patient. Exercise myocardial scans were negative in all seven patients. We conclude that no evidence of ischemia was demonstrated in patients with myocardial bridging of the left anterior descending coronary artery as determined by exercise electrocardiography and stress thallium-201 scintigraphy.
Greenspan et al. (Tue,) studied this question.