TY - JOUR
T1 - Prognostic role of myocardial single photon emission computed tomography in the elderly
AU - Perrone-Filardi, Pasquale
AU - Costanzo, Pierluigi
AU - Dellegrottaglie, Santo
AU - Gargiulo, Paola
AU - Ruggiero, Donatella
AU - Savarese, Gianluigi
AU - Parente, Antonio
AU - D'Amore, Carmen
AU - Cuocolo, Alberto
AU - Chiariello, Massimo
PY - 2010/4
Y1 - 2010/4
N2 - The increase in average life expectancy will move the burden of coronary artery disease (CAD) to older patients. Myocardial perfusion imaging by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has been extensively validated for diagnosis and prognostic evaluation in large population series. Yet, its use is usually limited in elderly patients in whom, despite increased absolute cardiovascular risk, diagnostic and therapeutic work-up is often underperformed. American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines recommend exercise ECG testing as the initial noninvasive method for assessment of CAD in patients with a normal or near-normal resting ECG, regardless of age. However, a considerable proportion of elderly patients is unable to reach an adequate workload during the exercise test and the majority of those undergoing for standard exercise treadmill score are classified as intermediate risk. In elderly patients, SPECT imaging may provide valuable diagnostic and prognostic information for clinical management. In particular, normal or near normal SPECT identifies elderly patients at low risk of major adverse cardiac events at the short-term follow-up.
AB - The increase in average life expectancy will move the burden of coronary artery disease (CAD) to older patients. Myocardial perfusion imaging by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has been extensively validated for diagnosis and prognostic evaluation in large population series. Yet, its use is usually limited in elderly patients in whom, despite increased absolute cardiovascular risk, diagnostic and therapeutic work-up is often underperformed. American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines recommend exercise ECG testing as the initial noninvasive method for assessment of CAD in patients with a normal or near-normal resting ECG, regardless of age. However, a considerable proportion of elderly patients is unable to reach an adequate workload during the exercise test and the majority of those undergoing for standard exercise treadmill score are classified as intermediate risk. In elderly patients, SPECT imaging may provide valuable diagnostic and prognostic information for clinical management. In particular, normal or near normal SPECT identifies elderly patients at low risk of major adverse cardiac events at the short-term follow-up.
KW - Coronary artery disease
KW - Elderly
KW - Myocardial perfusion imaging
KW - Single photon emission computed tomography
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U2 - 10.1007/s12350-009-9182-x
DO - 10.1007/s12350-009-9182-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 20033857
AN - SCOPUS:77953326417
VL - 17
SP - 310
EP - 315
JO - Journal of Nuclear Cardiology
JF - Journal of Nuclear Cardiology
SN - 1071-3581
IS - 2
ER -