A Comparison of Regadenoson and Treadmill Exercise in Myocardial Perfusion Imaging

Abstract

The aim of this research is to find if the pharmacologic agent regadenoson, will provide more false positives and lower positive predictive value than a treadmill exercise when doing a myocardial perfusion stress test. Methods:The patients for this research were the first 34 patients that were stressed with a treadmill exercise and the first 34 patients that were stressed using regadenoson. These patients were selected from a local hospital cardiac catheterization lab between the years of 2013 to 2015 starting January 2015, and working backward. These patients had to have a positive myocardial perfusion study and to have a catheterization procedure within six months of the last MPI test. We measured the false positive rate and the positive predictive value for both a treadmill exercise and regadenoson, using the catheterization results as the reference standard. Results:The findings suggest that regadenoson provides a higher false positive rate and a lower positive predictive value than a treadmill exercise. Conclusion:A treadmill exercise should be more utilized whenever possible to prohibit unnecessary cardiac catheterization procedures.