[Early identification of ischemic cardiopathy in patients with cerebrovascular insufficiency.A prospective study with exertion test and perfusion myocardial scintigraphy].

In patients with cerebral transient ischemic attacks or stroke myocardial infarction is the leading long-term cause of death. Despite the importance of coronary artery disease, patients with cerebrovascular insufficiency are seldom evaluated for the detection of ischemic heart disease and usually the cardiological evaluation is limited to the patients with angina or previous myocardial infarction. In order to identify asymptomatic coronary artery disease 74 consecutive patients with cerebral ischemia, and without symptoms or electrocardiographic signs of ischemic heart disease, underwent a maximal exercise treadmill test according to the Bruce protocol. An exercise Thallium myocardial scintigraphy was performed in patients with positive exercise test. A control group of 74 asymptomatic subjects underwent the same study protocol. The study population (Group I) included 57 men and 17 women; the age ranged from 22 to 72 years (mean age 54 years). An adequate exercise test was obtained in 67 patients. Exercise test was positive (ST-segment depression greater than or equal to 1.5 mm) in 19 cases (28%). The end points were exhaustion in 15 patients, ST-segment depression greater than 3 mm in 2 and systolic blood pressure greater than 240 mmHg in 2. The exercise Thallium myocardial scintigraphy was normal in 2 and abnormal in 17: reversible perfusion defects were detected in 12 cases and fixed defects in 5. In the control group (Group II), comparable for age and sex, exercise test was positive in 4 cases (5%; p less than 0.01 percentage of positive exercise tests in Group I vs Group II); the exercise myocardial scintigraphy was normal in 1 and abnormal in 3 subjects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)