title: Comparison of pressure measurement, dobutamine contrast stress echocardiography and SPECT for the evaluation of intermediate coronary stenoses. The COMPRESS trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  DSE and SPECT are two well-established methods to non-invasively investigate the functional significance of coronary artery stenoses in patients with coronary artery disease. The measurement of Fractional Flow Reserve has emerged a new invasive reference standard for lesion specific quantification of coronary artery stenoses. The objective of our prospective study was to compare sensitivity and specificity of Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography (DSE) and Single Photon Emission Computer tomography (SPECT) with the pressure derived Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) for the identification of hemodynamic relevant coronary lesions in patients with predominately coronary multivessel disease and angiographically intermediate stenoses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Inclusion criteria were a coronary lesion of 50-75% diameter stenosis by visual assessment in patients with known or suspected CAD. SPECT, DSE and FFR testing was performed within one week of coronary angiography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study comprised 48 consecutive symptomatic patients. In 41 cases, a coronary multivessel disease was present. Mean FFR was 0.80 +/- 0.13 (0.41-1.0). Overall sensitivity of DSE and SPECT was 67% and 69% whereas specificity reached 77% and 87%. However, sensitivity was significantly reduced if the target lesion was located distally. DSE showed poor results if the lesions were located in the circumflex artery or if a history of prior myocardial infarctions was present.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  DSE and SPECT are both useful methods for the non-invasive assessment of coronary artery disease. DSE showed reasonable combination of sensitivity and specificity even in patients with multivessel disease. Although use of noninvasive stress tests is only limited in patients with prior myocardial infarctions and invasive stress testing should be preferred in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University of Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rieber
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Erhard
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koenig
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hacker
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Schiele
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Segmiller
authors.forename: Hans-Ulrich
authors.initials: HU
authors.lastname: Stempfle
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Theisen
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Siebert
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Klauss
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D025401:Echocardiography, Stress; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013318:Stroke Volume; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon