Prognostic Relevance of Invasive and Noninvasive Data in Angiographically Defined Subgroups of Coronary Heart Disease Patients

Abstract

The extent of coronary disease and the degree of left ventricular dysfunction are important determinants of survival in patients with coronary artery disease (Bruschke et al. 1973a, b; Burggraf and Parker 1975; Hammermeister et al. 1977; Mock et al. 1982; Murphy et al. 1977; Proudfît et al. 1978). The results of exercise testing also correlate with the subsequent development of coronary events in a normal population (McDonald 1979) and in different groups of patients with coronary disease (Cole and Ellestadt 1978; Samek et al. 1975; Starling et al. 1980; Payne et al. 1978; Weiner et al. 1978; Tubau et al. 1980). This correlation has been related to the fact that exercise tests are more often positive in patients with multi-vessel disease (Starling et al. 1980) and patients with multi-vessel disease are more likely to have a poor prognosis.