To assess the quality of the patient response to exercise, it is of value to quantify the heart rate increment. Those patients reaching  ≥ 85% are considered to have undergone an adequate stress and therefore ECG and perfusion myocardial spect may exhibit optimal sensitivity to detect coronary artery disease.

            As indicated the predicted maximal heart rate for any given patient is calculated substracting his/her age from 200, and this figure will be the reference 100%. To calculate the percentage to achieve, the maximun heart rate during the test is divided  by his/her 100%, multiplying the product by 100.

            If this figure is below 85%, either the administration of atropine or shifting the stress to pharmacologic type before injecting the radiotracer, may be advisable in order to keep a good detection rate of coronary disease.

       Home       Index    Cardiovascular Procedures      Myocardial Perfusion Thallium      Myocardial Perfusion Mibi