Comparison of Resting Magnetocardiography With Stress Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography in Patients With Stable and Unstable Angina

Chest pain patients often undergo extensive work up for coronary artery disease (CAD) involving stress provocation, injection of medication, contrast, nuclear tracer, radiation, or catheterization, which all carry risks. Test results may not be available for hours. Resting magnetocardiographic imaging (MCG) is rapid, non invasive and without any risk. We examined the performance of rest MCG with stress SPECT imaging using coronary angiography as gold standard. Methods: Resting MCG was obtained in 37 patients with stable (sa) class I-II (n=20) and unstable (usa) class III-IV (n=17) angina. Patients were imaged for 90 seconds (36-channel MCG) or 6 minutes (9-channel MCG). Results were available immediately. All patients had SPECT and coronary angiography for clinical indication. ≥ 50% left main stenosis or ≥ 70% major branch vessel stenosis was considered significant. Results: The mean age was 62.9 years. 65.8% were men. There was a high prevalence of CAD risk factors: Hypertension 60.5%; diabetes 26.3 %; smoking 36.1%; hypercholesterolemia 78.4%; family history 50.0%, and prior myocardial infarction 57.9%. The MCG imaging was significantly associated with CAD (p=0.01). The diagnostic value of MCG and SPECT for the detection of CAD is shown in the table. Conclusions: Resting MCG imaging provides immediate results with very high positive predictive value for CAD that exceeds or meets the performance of SPECT but without the use of stress provocation, radiation or injection of nuclear tracer