Background: There is a paucity of data comparing the relative merits of inotropic and vasodilator stress Tc-99m sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for the detection of coronary artery disease and reversible ischemia.
Methods and results: Twenty-seven patients referred for diagnostic coronary arteriography underwent separate day dipyridamole and arbutamine Tc-99m sestamibi SPECT imaging with simultaneous two-dimensional echocardiography. The sensitivity of arbutamine and dipyridamole Tc-99m sestamibi for the detection of coronary artery disease was 100% (21 of 21) and 90% (19 of 21), respectively, with a specificity of 66% (4 of 6) for both. Coronary artery disease was detected in all six patients with single vessel disease by both stress modalities. The sensitivity for prediction of multivessel disease was 66% (10 of 15) for arbutamine and 46% (7 of 15) for dipyridamole stress. Arbutamine stress induced a greater extent and severity of perfusion abnormality at peak stress (peak perfusion score 25 +/- 6.2 and 21 +/- 5.9 for arbutamine and dipyridamole, respectively, p = 0.001) and reversible perfusion defects (difference between peak stress and rest scores 8.8 +/- 5.5 and 5.2 +/- 4.4 for arbutamine and dipyridamole, respectively, p = 0.001). Furthermore a significantly higher percentage of reversible defects induced by arbutamine stress was associated with wall thickening abnormality on simultaneous echocardiography, which is a more specific marker of myocardial ischemia (88% and 24% for arbutamine and dipyridamole, respectively, p = 0.002).
Conclusion: Inotropic stress may be superior to vasodilators for the determination of the extent and severity of myocardial involvement and reversible ischemia by Tc-99m sestamibi SPECT.