Comparison of dobutamine-stress magnetic resonance imaging and dipyridamole-Tl-201-SPECT as alternative strategies for the detection of coronary artery disease in patients not suitable for stress-echocardiography

Aim: During the past decade stress-echocardiography has gained increasing popularity for detection of myocardial ischemia in patients with coronary artery disease. However, about 10% to 15% of the patients submitted for stress-echocardiography do not have an adequate acoustic window. The purpose of this study was to compare high-dose dobutamine-stress magnetic resonance imaging (dobutamine-MRI) with dipyridamole-TI-201-SPECT (dipyridamole-SPECT) as alternative strategies for detection of myocardial ischemia in patients with inadequate image quality by stress-echocardiography. Patients and Methods: Of 296 patients which were consecutively submitted to stress-echocardiography 45 patients (15%) had two or more segments that could not be evaluated according to the 16-segment-model of the American Society of Echocardiography. They underwent dobutamine-MRI and dipyridamole-SPELT studies, which were evaluated using a 28-segment modell. Myocardial segments were attributed to perfusion territories of the coronary arteries. The results of ischemia detection were compared to the results of coronary angiography (stenosis greater than or equal to 50%) Results: In comparison to coronary angiography dobutamine-MRI yielded a sensitivity of 87%, a specificity of 86%, a positive predictive value of 93%, a negative predictive value of 75% and a diagnostic accuracy of 86%. For dipyridamole-SPELT results were 90%, 86%, 93%, 80% and 89%, respectively. These values were not significantly different. Conclusions: In patients not suitable for stress-echocardiography, both dobutamine-MRI and dipyridamole-SPELT are reliable strategies for detection of myocardial ischemia. Selection is dependent on the patient criteria, technical considerations, local logistics and experience of the observer.