The prognostic value of normal myocardial perfusion spect with positive coronary angiography

BACKGROUND: Normal exercise SPECT studies are associatedwith a low event rate. The association of the negative SPECTand positive coronary angiography with the results for the longtime follow up was determined. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 45 patients were included intothe study. All patients had normal SPECT study and positiveangiography in the ≤ 6 months after SPECT. 20 of them werewomen.Six patients had diabetes mellitus, 8 was smokers. Twopatients had had left main coronary artery and 12 had multivesseldisease. Baseline clinical risk factors were recorded for eachpatients and compared to outcomes. RESULTS: There were no deaths in the study group in the followup period. One myocardial infarct occurred in patient withmultivessel disease and five more angioplasties with stentswere performed in the long term follow up due to progressionof coronary stenosis. CONCLUSIONS: We observed that the normal SPECT withpositive ECG pattern is infrequent and has a very good prognosticvalue However, the long-term survival among a patientcohort with a normal exercise SPECT study is influenced by thenumber of concomitant CAD risk factors. We conclude that there is an importance of modifying CAD risk factors among patientswith a normal SPECT.