Comparison of Submaximal Exercise ECG Test with Coronary Cineangiocardiogram

Abstract

Coronary arteriograms and submaximal exercise tests were compared in 100 patients, all of whom had chest pain. Forty-six of these patients were free of hypertension, aortic valve disease or mitral incompetence, left ventricular hypertrophy, QRS prolongation, or resting ST depression and were not receiving digitalis glycosides. An ischemic exercise ECG response was demonstrated in 26 of these 46 patients, and all but 2 had abnormal coronary arteriograms. Among the 20 negative exercise test responders, coronary arteriograms were normal in 14 and abnormal in 6 patients. Four of these six abnormal findings were predictable on clinical grounds, leaving only two patients whose angiographic abnormality was not predicted by history, ECG, or exercise test. In the remaining 54 patients, each of whom had 1 or more of the abnormalities listed above, the ECG response to exercise correlated poorly with arteriographic findings.