Prevalence of Ischemia on Myocardial Perfusion Scintigraphy of Pre- and Postmenopausal Women

Abstract

BackgroundIn postmenopausal women, the presence of risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) increases. However, the difference in prevalence of ischemia between pre- and postmenopausal women with multiple risk factors for CAD has not been well established.ObjectivesTo compare the prevalence of ischemia on Tc99m-sestamibi myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) in pre-and postmenopausal women, and to evaluate whether menopause can be considered an independent risk predictor of ischemia in women with multiple risk factors for CAD.MethodsThis study retrospectively assessed 500 MPS of pre- and postmenopausal women with multiple risk factors for CAD. Statistical analysis was performed by using Fisher exact test and univariate and multivariate analysis, a p value ≤ 0.05 being considered significant.ResultsPostmenopausal women represented 55.9% of the sample; 83.3% were hypertensive; 28.9%, diabetic; 32.1%, smokers; 25%, obese; 61.2% had high cholesterol levels; and 34.3% had known CAD. Postmenopausal women were more often hypertensive, diabetic and dyslipidemic, and had lower functional capacity on exercise testing (p = < 0.005). The presence of ischemia on MPS did not significantly differ between the pre- and postmenopausal groups (p = 0.395). The only variable associated with ischemia on MPS was known CAD (p = 0.004).ConclusionThe results suggest that, in women with multiple risk factors for CAD, menopause was not an independent predictor of ischemia on MPS. Those data support the idea that the investigation of ischemia via MPS in women with multiple risk factors for CAD should begin prior to menopause.

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test in Myocardial Ischemia Detection

“…CPEX could be also useful in diagnosing coronary artery disease in asymptomatic diabetic women. Smanio et al showed that CPEX is better than routine ECG stress testing in this cohort, but inferior to myocardial perfusion imaging [25]. Furthermore, CPEX has shown to be useful in assessing new medical therapies for coronary artery disease [26].…”