Abstract
Quantitative SPECT analysis contributes to the diagnostic and prognostic assessment of coronary artery disease. A novel automated scoring system (heart score view) can provide identical quantitative information to that determined by expert visual analysis. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the prognostic value of the automated SPECT scoring system when applied to stress thallium and resting beta-methyl-iodophenyl pentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) SPECT images. After a preliminary validation of the automated system by comparison with expert visual analyses, outcome data from 151 consecutive patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease without prior myocardial infarction were analyzed using automated SPECT scores on stress thallium and resting BMIPP images. The software quantified abnormalities as summed stress (SSS), summed rest and summed difference scores for stress thallium and as summed BMIPP scores (SBS). Cardiac events occurred over a period of 48 months in 29 (19.2%) patients with diabetes mellitus, a lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and more abnormal scores for thallium and BMIPP. Multivariate predictors of all cardiac events included diabetes mellitus and thallium SSS. The global Chi-square value was significantly increased when SSS was added to the clinical information (diabetes mellitus and LVEF). Negative predictive values of thallium SSS and SBS were almost identical at 84% for all cardiac events and 98% for hard cardiac events. Automatically quantified perfusion and BMIPP scores are related to cardiac events and these values can improve the risk stratification of coronary patients particularly when stress thallium imaging is combined with clinical information.