Abstract
Study Objective. To determine if the diagnostic accuracy and safety of intravenous adenosine myocardial perfusion imaging is significantly different 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 were referred for evaluation of known or suspected coronary artery disease. Patients were judged not to be able to exercise adequately. Interventions. Coronary angiography was conducted within 6 weeks of an adenosine 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 frequency 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.