Lack of correlation between coronary artery calcium and myocardial perfusion imaging.
BACKGROUND
Coronary artery calcium (CAC) provides evidence of coronary atherosclerosis and has significant prognostic power. Although prior studies have documented a relationship between CAC and hemodynamically significant coronary artery stenosis, the results have not been conclusive.


RESULTS
We evaluated 126 consecutive patients who underwent electron beam computed tomography CAC scoring by use of the Agatston method and stress myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) within 3 months of each other. The analysis revealed no correlation between absolute CAC score and age- and gender-adjusted CAC scores with MPI. Overall, 18% of patients had abnormal MPI results irrespective of their CAC.


CONCLUSIONS
CAC scoring and stress MPI should be thus considered complementary approaches rather than exclusionary in the evaluation of the patient at risk for coronary artery disease.
Rosman
Jonathan
J
Beth Israel Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA. jrosman@chpnet.org
Shapiro
Michael
M
Pandey
Anuragini
A
VanTosh
Andrew
A
Bergmann
Steven R
SR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D010477:Perfusion; D011379:Prognosis; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D002118:Calcium