Prognostic Value of Myocardial Perfusion Contrast Echocardiography in Patients with Suggested or Known Ischemic Heart Disease

Abstract

We sought to determine the prognostic value of myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) in patients with known or suggested coronary artery disease compared with technetium-99m sestamibi single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)-myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). The prognostic value of SPECT-MPI is well established for patients with coronary artery disease. It is less well defined by MCE. In all, 51 consecutive patients with suggested coronary artery disease prospectively underwent MCE and SPECT-MPI at baseline and after dipyridamole infusion. MCE and SPECT-MPI were independently analyzed for myocardial perfusion. Cardiac events during the follow-up period were determined, and event-free survival was calculated for MCE and SPECT-MPI techniques separately. MCE (log rank P < .005) and SPECT-MPI (log rank P < .05) demonstrated equivalent event-free survival. The negative predictive value for events for both MCE and SPECT-MPI was 100%. MCE accurately classifies patients at risk for cardiac events and provides prognostic information comparable with validated SPECT-MPI techniques.