OBJECTIVES This investigation sought to study the incremental value of gated rubidium (Rb)-82 positron emission tomography (PET) myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) over clinical variables for predicting survival and future cardiac events. BACKGROUND The prognostic value of Rb-82 PET-MPI and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) reserve (stress minus rest LVEF) is not well defined. METHODS 1,432 consecutive patients undergoing gated rest/vasodilator stress rubidium-82 PET were followed up for at least 1 year. Of these, rest and peak stress LVEF and LVEF reserve were available in 985 patients. Cardiac events (CE) including cardiac death or nonfatal myocardial infarction and all-cause death were assessed. RESULTS Over a mean follow-up of 1.7 ± 0.7 years, 83 (5.8%) CE and 140 (9.7%) all-cause death were observed. There was an increase in risk for both end points with an increasing percentage of abnormal and ischemic myocardium. With normal, mild, moderate, or severely ischemic scans, the observed annualized rates of CE were 0.7%, 5.5%, 5%, and 11% and of all-cause death were 3.3%, 7.2%, 6.9%, and 12.5%, respectively. In 985 patients with peak stress gated data, the observed annualized rates of CE (2.1% vs. 5.3%, p < 0.001) and all-cause death (4.3% vs. 9.2%, p < 0.001) were higher in patients with an LVEF reserve <0% compared with those with an LVEF reserve ≥0%. On Cox proportional hazards analysis, after consideration of clinical, historical, and rest LVEF information, stress PET results and LVEF reserve yielded incremental prognostic value with respect to both CE and all-cause death. CONCLUSIONS Vasodilator stress Rb-82 PET-MPI provides incremental prognostic value to historical/clinical variables and rest LVEF to predict survival free of CE and all-cause death. An increasing percentage of ischemia on PET-MPI is associated with an increase in the risk of CE and all-cause death. Left ventricular ejection fraction reserve provides significant independent and incremental value to Rb-82 MPI for predicting the risk of future adverse events.

Despite an excellent negative predictive value, CTA is a poor discriminator of patients with myocardial ischemia. Conversely, a normal stress PET study is a poor discriminator of patients without evidence of non-flow-limiting (subclinical) coronary atherosclerosis. These results suggest potentially complementary roles of CT and perfusion imaging in the evaluation of patients with suspected CAD.

The relationship between myocardial blood flow (MBF) and stenosis severity has been determined previously using cyclotron-produced radiotracers such as 15 O-H 2 O and 13 N-ammonia. An attractive alternative to overcome the limitations related to the use of cyclotron might be to use the generator-produced Rubidium-82 as a flow tracer. The current study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between MBF and coronary vasodilator reserve (CVR) as measured by Rubidium-82 positron emission tomography (PET) and the percent diameter stenosis as defined by quantitative coronary arteriography.Methods-We prospectively evaluated 22 individuals: 15 patients (60±11 years of age) with angiographically documented coronary artery disease (CAD) and seven age-matched (56±9 years) asymptomatic individuals without risk factors for CAD. Dynamic Rubidium-82 PET was performed at rest and after dipyridamole vasodilation. MBF, CVR and an index of "minimal coronary resistance" (MCR) were assessed in each of the three main coronary territories.Results-Rest and stress MBF in regions subtended by vessels with <50% diameter stenosis was similar to that of the individuals with no risk factors for CAD. As a result, CVR was also similar in the two groups (1.9, interquartile [IQ] range from 1.7 to 2.7 vs. 2.2, IQ range from 2 to 3.4 respectively, p=0.09)). CVR successfully differentiated coronary lesions with stenosis severity 70% to 89% from those with 50% to 69% stenosis (1, IQ range from 1 to 1.3 vs. 1.7, IQ range from 1.4 to 2), respectively, p=0.001. In addition, hyperaemic MBF (r 2 =.74, p<0.001), CVR (r 2 =. 69, p<0.001), and MCR (r 2 =.78, p<0.001) measurements were inversely and non-linearly correlated to the percent diameter stenosis on angiography.