Background: We evaluate the prognostic value of stress echo and gated single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) after a first uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction.
Methods and results: We used predischarge maximal subjective exercise echocardiography and gated SPECT with technetium 99m tetrofosmin to prospectively study 103 patients younger than 70 years with a first acute myocardial infarction. During a 12-month follow-up period, 2 patients died, 9 had heart failure, and 29 had ischemic complications (4 reinfarction and 25 angina). Predictive variables for heart failure in multivariate analysis were ejection fraction evaluated by echocardiography (odds ratio [OR] 8.5, P =.016) or by gated SPECT (OR 10.7, P =.009). Predictive variables for ischemic complications in multivariate analysis were less than 5 metabolic equivalents (METS) in exercise test (OR 5.2, P =.007) and greater than 15% ischemic extent in the polar map (OR 3.6, P =.04) of SPECT.
Conclusions: Exercise echocardiography and Tc-99m tetrofosmin gated SPECT were predictive for heart failure, but exercise SPECT was the only test with predictive power for ischemic complications.