Prognostic implications of post-stress ejection fraction decrease detected by gated SPECT in the absence of stress-induced perfusion abnormalities.
OBJECTIVE
The prognostic meaning of a post-stress ejection fraction (EF) decrease detected by perfusion gated SPECT is still unclear.We therefore followed up patients with post-stress EF decrease in the absence of stress-induced perfusion abnormalities.


METHODS
We prospectively enrolled 57 consecutive patients with post-stress EF drop ≥ 5 EF units and summed difference score (SDS) ≤ 1. They were followed up for more than 1 year and their outcome was compared with a group of sex- and age-matched controls with the same SDS but without EF decrease.


RESULTS
During follow-up there were 13 events (1 cardiac death, 1 non-fatal myocardial infarction, 1 congestive heart failure and 10 late revascularizations). In the control group we registered six events. There was a significant difference (p<0.0001) between the event-free survival curves of the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The event rate of patients with post-stress EF decrease ≥ 5 EF units is relatively high and is significantly worse than that of a control group of patients with similarly normal SDS but without EF changes. Therefore, a post-stress EF decrease without stress-induced perfusion abnormalities should be cautiously interpreted.
Department of Clinical Physiopathology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Manjola
M
Dona
Lucia
L
Massi
Leonardo
L
Settimo
Matteo
M
Bartolini
Gianluca
G
Giannì
Alberto
A
Pupi
Roberto
R
Sciagrà
D000368:Aged; D055426:Cardiac-Gated Single-Photon Emission Computer-Assisted Tomography; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D011379:Prognosis; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013318:Stroke Volume