Subendocardial ischemia cannot be currently quantified by imaging. HCPs require a means more effective than conventional angiograms to predict the need for bypass surgery or coronary stents in cardiac patients. A novel PET imaging-based method aims to determine the extent of subendocardial ischemia.
Using dipyridamole stress and Rubidium-82 PET, researchers measured the following parameters in 6,631 patients to establish threshold values of severity that call for the inclusion of coronary bypass surgery or stents in addition to pharmaceutical treatment. In a 10-year+ follow up, they found that: Patients with a severely impaired CFC had a higher risk of major cardiac event (44.4%) when compared to patients with normal/moderate CFC (8.8%). The mortality risk was lower in patients with subendocardial ischemia who underwent revascularization (6.9%, p < 0.00002) than those who did not…
