The Role of Myocardial Perfusion Gated SPECT Study in Women with Coronary Artery Disease: A Correlative Study

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the role of gated myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) and to investigate whether only the invasive coronary angiography (CAG) is sufficient in the diagnosis of the coronary artery disease (CAD) in women. Material and Methods: Sixty-four women (62 +/- 10 years) with known CAD were included in this study. They had echocardiography (ECHO), stress/rest gated MPS and invasive CAG. Coronary stenosis as of > 50 % in invasive CAG was accepted as significant. Gated MPS data were compared with invasive CAG and ECHO. Results: Invasive CAG results were abnormal in 34 patients, and normal in 30 cases. Myocardial ischemia was detected by gated MPS in 22/30 cases with normal invasive CAG, 6 had mild coronary stenosis in major coronary arteries ranging from 30% to 50% in invasive CAG. 16/22 women were diagnosed as metabolic syndrome according to MetSend Diagnostic Criteria and only 8 of 30 patients with normal invasive CAG had false positive MPS data on the reevaluation by a nuclear cardiologist. Conclusion: We think that invasive coronary angiography method is not sufficient alone in the diagnosis of CAD in women. Gated MPS study is recommended to achieve the final decision for myocardial ischemia in the cases with CAD and raw data must always be evaluated to avoid attenuation artifacts.