Outcome of medical versus invasive treatment strategies for non-high-risk ischemic heart disease

J Nucl Cardiol. 1998 Jan-Feb;5(1):28-33. doi: 10.1016/s1071-3581(98)80007-x.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of medical management compared with invasive management for patients with mild or moderate ischemia (non-high-risk) on stress tomographic myocardial perfusion scintigraphy. Of the 1,352 non-high-risk patients, 116 (9%) subsequently were referred for coronary angiography within the first 30 days after the scan; 99 (85%) of this group also underwent early revascularization procedures. The remaining 1,236 patients (91%) with non-high-risk ischemia did not undergo early invasive management. Unadjusted actuarial 3-year rate of cardiac death or nonfatal infarction was significantly better estimated survival in the medically managed group (2%) compared with the invasively managed group (22%), p = 0.0001. Subsequent coronary revascularization procedures during 3-year follow-up were less frequent in the medically managed group (4%) than in the invasively managed group (42%), p = 0.0001. A multivariable analysis identified invasive management strategy (p = 0.0001) as the only correlate of cardiac events during follow-up. In summary, this study showed that patients with non-high-risk ischemia on stress perfusion imaging can be treated safely with a conservative medical management strategy.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Actuarial Analysis
  • Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary
  • Coronary Artery Bypass
  • Exercise Test
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Heart / diagnostic imaging
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Myocardial Infarction / epidemiology
  • Myocardial Infarction / mortality
  • Myocardial Ischemia / diagnostic imaging
  • Myocardial Ischemia / therapy*
  • Outcome Assessment, Health Care*
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon