ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Assessment of diastolic function in patients with chest pain and angiographically normal coronary arteries using ECG-gated spect

Khachirova EA1, Samoylenko LE2, Shevchenko OP1
About authors

1 Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia

2 Russian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, Moscow, Russia

Correspondence should be addressed: Elvira A. Khachirova
Ostrovityanova 1, Moscow, 117997; ur.liam@90kihcle

About paper

Acknowledgements: the authors wish to thank Viktor K. Sychev for kindly allowing them to use the equipment of the Laboratory for Radioisotopes.

Author contribution: Khachirova EA recruited patients for the study, prepared the necessary documentation, participated in conducting the cardiac stress test and SPECT/CT, and processed the obtained data; Samoylenko LE controlled the course of the study and double-checked the obtained results; Shevchenko OP made sure inclusion and exclusion criteria were met.

Received: 2018-09-17 Accepted: 2018-11-11 Published online: 2019-02-23
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The diagnosis and treatment of patients with angiographically normal or near normal coronary arteries remains a clinically relevant problem. The aim of this study was to assess diastolic function in patients with chest pain and normal/near normal coronary arteries (NECA) using ECG-gated SPECT/CT. The study recruited 49 patients presenting with chest pain, a positive cardiac stress test and normal coronary arteries, as demonstrated by coronary angiography. All patients were ordered a myocardial SPECT/CT scan, which was performed according to a two-day protocol. After the scan, the patients were divided into 3 groups. Group 1 consisted of 17 patients with microvascular angina. Group 2 was composed of 22 patients with borderline-high blood pressure or stage I hypertensive heart disease associated with secondary microvascular dysfunction. Ten seemingly healthy individuals constituted the control group. According to coronary angiography, the controls had no cardiovascular pathologies accompanied by coronary artery disorders or impaired myocardial perfusion (SPECT). The majority of patients from groups 1 and 2 were found to have impaired diastolic function. The impairments were more pronounced in group 2 tended to exacerbate with stress. The most sensitive parameter of diastolic function, MFR/3, was outside the reference range in almost all patients in groups 1 and 2. MFR/3 characterizes the mean filling rate of the left ventricle in the first third of diastole. The control group showed no symptoms of diastolic dysfunction. Thus, the patients with chest pain, a positive stress test and NECA had signs of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction exacerbated with stress. Such patients are at risk for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Keywords: single-photon emission computed tomography, microvascular angina, diastolic function, angiographically near normal epicardial coronary arteries, myocardial perfusion

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