Stress echocardiography vs coronary oomputed tomography angiography for the detection of obstructive coronary artery disease in patients aged >70 years with suspected stable coronary artery disease

Aim. To compare stress echocardiography and coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in the diagnosis of stable coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients aged >70 years.

Materials and methods. The study included 390 patients aged >70 years with suspected stable CAD, which underwent elective coronary artery angiography (CAG). Initially, patients for whom stress echocardiography and CCTA is appropriate was determined. After that diagnostic accuracy of both methods in the detection of obstructive CAD was evaluated in patients with atypical angina and non-anginal chest pain.

Results. Among 111 patients with atypical angina and non-anginal pain which underwent stress echocardiography and had unequivocal results, 69 (62 %) patients had obstructive CAD. Stress echocardiography has sensitivity of 89%, specificity of 95%, positive likelihood ratio (LR+) of 17,8, and negative likelihood ratio (LR-) of 0,1. Positive result increased probability of obstructive CAD from 62% to 95%, while negative result reduced probability to 16%. Among 82 patients with atypical angina and non-anginal pain which underwent CCTA, 48 (59 %) patients had obstructive CAD. CCTA has sensitivity of 100 %, specificity of 88%, LR+ of 8,3, and LR- of 0,3. Positive result increased post-test probability of obstructive CAD from 59% to 86%, while negative result reduced post-test probability to 0%.

Conclusion. Stress echocardiography and CCTA has comparable diagnostic accuracy in the detection of obstructive CAD in patients aged >70 years with atypical angina and non-anginal pain. Stress echocardiography has a greater diagnostic value of positive result; CCTA has a greater diagnostic value of negative result.

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