[Prognostic stratification of the patient with ischemic cardiopathy]

Abstract

The mean goal in the evaluation of a patient with coronary artery disease is the identification of patients at high risk to develop major cardiac events, including mortality. Ischemic patients can be stratified using non-invasive and invasive methods. Invasive procedures have some disadvantages, especially in follow-up studies. Nuclear Cardiology procedures, such as perfusion studies performed with thallium or 99mTc labeled agents (sestamibi, tetrofosmin), radioventriculography for right and left ventricle function evaluation and Gated SPECT are considered the best non-invasive procedures not only for the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia but for risk stratification. These techniques can identify the group of patients at high risk to develop major cardiovascular events, constituted by patients with perfusion abnormalities, specially during stress and systolic left ventricle dysfunction.