THE COMPARATIVE SAFETY AND DIAGNOSTIC-ACCURACY OF ADENOSINE MYOCARDIAL PERFUSION IMAGING IN WOMEN VERSUS MEN

Study Objective. To determine if the diagnostic accuracy and safety of intravenous adenosine myocardial perfusion imaging is significantly d ifferent in men compared with women. Design. Prospective, comparative, open-label clinical trial. Setting. Nuclear medicine laboratory in a university-affiliated hospital. Patients. Consecutive patients who wer e referred for evaluation of known or suspected coronary artery diseas e. Patients were judged not to be able to exercise adequately. Interve ntions. Coronary angiography was conducted within 6 weeks of an adenos ine thallium-201 myocardial perfusion imaging study. Measurements and Main Results. Diagnostic accuracy is shown in the table. Overall, side effects from adenosine were not different between men and women. The frequencies of ST depression and chest pain were significantly greater in women than men, although their etiologies are unknown. The frequen cy of severe side effects such as heart block and hypotension was not different between men and women. Conclusions. The diagnostic accuracy and safety of adenosine thallium-201 myocardial perfusion imaging are generally similar in women and men.