Description:
Risk assessment by noninvasive cardiac imaging is useful for patient management and the evaluation of the extent and severity of stress-induced ischemia is used to guide therapeutic decision-making in patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease (CAD). In particular, the evaluation of the extent and severity of stress-induced ischemia by myocardial perfusion imaging with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has been demonstrated to be effective to risk stratify patients with known CAD and guide for referral catheterization. Our research group assess the predictors and the temporal characteristics of cardiac risk in patients undergoing stress SPECT after coronary revascularization procedures by percutaneous coronary intervention and by coronary artery bypass grafting. The partial results of our studies indicated that clinical variables and stress SPECT performed after coronary revascularization procedures are useful to characterize the risk of cardiac events and its temporal variation. Parametric survival models seem useful to estimate predicted time to risk and levels of risk at specific time intervals after revascularization. Similarly, our group is the promoter and the coordinator of a prospective, multi-center trial designed to evaluate the impact of inducible ischemia by stress SPECT (IDIS trial) in diabetic patients with suspected and known CAD, and to define the role of SPECT results in assessing the cardiac risk in such patients