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Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy and echocardiography for detecting coronary artery disease in hypertensive patients: a meta-analysis

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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

This meta-analysis summarized the accuracy of stress myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) and stress echocardiography for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with arterial hypertension.

Methods

We searched for studies in which stress MPS or stress echocardiography were performed to detect CAD in hypertensive patients, with coronary angiography used as the reference test, published from January 1980 to December 2010. Studies performed in patients with known CAD, acute coronary syndrome and previous revascularization procedures were excluded.

Results

Of 1,263 studies, 13 met the inclusion criteria. Pooled summary estimates showed that stress MPS had a sensitivity of 0.90 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.82–0.95] and a specificity of 0.63 (95% CI 0.53–0.72). For stress MPS, the area under the curve (AUC) at the summary receiver-operating characteristic (SROC) graph was 0.83 (95% CI 0.80–0.86). At meta-regression analysis, the presence of positive stress electrocardiography as inclusion criterion was the only significant effect modifier (p < 0.01). Pooled summary estimates showed that stress echocardiography had a sensitivity of 0.77 (95% CI 0.69–0.83) and a specificity of 0.89 (95% CI 0.83–0.93). For stress echocardiography, the AUC at SROC was 0.91 (95% CI 0.88–0.93). At the meta-regression analysis no significant effect modifier was detected.

Conclusion

MPS has high sensitivity for detecting CAD in hypertensive patients, with specificity comparable to that reported in the general population, whereas stress echocardiography shows higher specificity but substantially reduced sensitivity compared to MPS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular and Immunological Sciences, University Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Paola Gargiulo, Mario Petretta, Maria Prastaro, Carmen D’Amore, Enrico Vassallo, Gianluigi Savarese, Caterina Marciano, Stefania Paolillo & Pasquale Perrone Filardi

  2. Department of Preventive Medical Sciences, University Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Dario Bruzzese

  3. Department of Biomorphological and Functional Sciences, University Federico II and SDN Foundation, Institute of Diagnostic and Nuclear Development, Naples, Italy

    Alberto Cuocolo

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  1. Paola Gargiulo
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Correspondence to Alberto Cuocolo or Pasquale Perrone Filardi.

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Gargiulo, P., Petretta, M., Bruzzese, D. et al. Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy and echocardiography for detecting coronary artery disease in hypertensive patients: a meta-analysis. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 38, 2040–2049 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-011-1891-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-011-1891-0

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