Dyssynchrony contributes to false-positive myocardial perfusion SPECT results in patients with stable angina

Abstract

Aim: We designed this study to evaluate the possibility that dyssynchrony might lead to false-positive myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography myocardial perfusion image (MPS) results in stable angina patients.

Methods and results: This study included 61 patients with both clinically diagnosed stable angina and quantitative MPS results who underwent coronary angiography. The patients were divided into two groups: those who had positive MPS results and normal coronary angiography (Group I, n = 28, 64.05 ± 10.14 years, 11 males and 17 females) and those who had positive MPS results and significant coronary lesions as determined by coronary angiography (Group II, n = 33, 69.2 ± 10.4 years, 14 males and 19 females). The maximal difference in time-to-peak myocardial sustained systolic velocity among all 12 left ventricular (LV) segments (maximal difference in TS) was significantly delayed in Group I as compared with Group II (125.00 ± 46.10 vs. 87.33 ± 40.53 ms, P=0.001). The standard deviation of the time-to-peak myocardial sustained systolic velocity of all 12 LV segments (TS-SD) was also significantly different in the two groups (45.12 ± 19.25 vs. 30.10 ± 15.80 , P=0.002).

Conclusion: Dyssynchrony may be a cause of false-positive quantitative MPS results, even if patients have narrow QRS complexes on ECG. Dyssynchrony index can increase the specificity of quantitative MPS in stable angina patients.