Comparison of dobutamine stress echocardiography and exercise stress Thallium-201 SPECT for detection of myocardial ischemia after acute myocardial infarction treated with thrombolysis

In order to compare the ability of dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) and exercise Thallium-201 SPECT to detect myocardial ischemia in patients with myocardial infarction (Ml) treated with thrombolysis, 43 prospectively selected patients with Ml treated with thrombolysis underwent within 1 month from Ml DSE, stress-redistribution-reinjection Thallium-201 SPECT and coronary angiography. The echocardiographic and scintigraphic images were analyzed for the presence of myocardial ischemia using a 11-segment left ventricular model. DSE and exercise Thallium-201 SPECT detected myocardial ischemia in the infarct zone in 72 and 72 (31/43) of patients and ischemia at a distance in 12 (5/43) and 19 (8/43) of patients with a concordance of 67 and 88 , respectively. A significant agreement between DSE and exercise Thallium SPECT was found in the evaluation of the extent of both myocardial necrosis and stress-induced myocardial ischemia. DSE and exercise Thallium SPECT showed similar sensitivity (79 vs 76), specificity (60 vs 60) and accuracy (77 vs 74) for detection of a critical stenosis of the infarct-related artery; there was also no significant difference between the tests in sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for detection of the multivessel disease.In conclusion, initially after thrombolyzed MI, DSE and exercise Thallium-201 SPECT detect myocardial ischemia in the infarct zone in a high proportion of patients and show a similar accuracy for the diagnosis of a critical stenosis of the infarct-related coronary artery and of the multivessel disease.