Identification of proximal left anterior descending artery stenosis with thallium-201 defect patterns in patients with angina pectoris.
We determined the accuracy of perfusion defect patterns in predicting the presence of proximal left anterior descending (LAD) artery stenosis in patients with angina pectoris. The development population consisted of 80 patients with single-vessel LAD stenosis and reversible LAD territory defects on thallium-201 tomography. The types of defect patterns associated with angiographic proximal LAD stenosis in this population were categorized as "proximal LAD patterns." The accuracy of these patterns for identifying proximal LAD stenosis was evaluated in a separate validation population of 152 patients with angina pectoris. The development population demonstrated LAD territory defects of type I (most of the LAD territory; n = 12); type II (apex, apicoanterior, and most of the septum; n = 26), type III (septum; n = 19); type IV (anteroseptum; n = 6); type V (apex; n = 10); and type VI patterns (anterolateral wall; n = 7). Patients with type I, II, and IV patterns were highly associated with proximal LAD stenosis (38 of 44 segments), whereas those with type III, V, and VI patterns were mostly related to distal LAD disease (29 of 36 segments). In the validation population, proximal LAD patterns had a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 72%, 95%, and 91%, respectively, for identifying patients with proximal LAD stenosis. Test sensitivity was 86% when patients without LAD territory defects were excluded from analysis. Results were virtually identical in the subgroup of 84 patients with stable angina. Thus, recognition of LAD territory thallium defect patterns is useful for identifying patients with angina who are likely to have proximal LAD stenosis.
Department of Nuclear Medicine and the Cardiovascular Institute, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea.
Joon-Kee
JK
Yoon
Kyung-Han
KH
Lee
Eun Jeong
EJ
Lee
Young Hwan
YH
Kim
Jung-Don
JD
Seo
Byung-Tae
BT
Kim
D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes