Prognostic study of risk stratification among Japanese patients with ischemic heart disease using gated myocardial perfusion SPECT: J-ACCESS study

Although the prognostic value of myocardial perfusion imaging using gated single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for predicting major cardiac events has been evaluated, little is known about the relevance of this procedure to the Japanese population.

A total of 4,031 consecutive Japanese patients with suspected or confirmed ischemic heart diseases were registered at 117 hospitals in the Japanese Assessment of Cardiac Events and Survival Study by Quantitative Gated SPECT investigation. Gated stress/rest myocardial perfusion SPECT was performed and the patients were followed up for 3 years. Segmental perfusion scores and quantitative gated SPECT results were calculated. Major cardiac events were defined as cardiac death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and severe heart failure.

During the 3-year follow-up, cardiac death (n = 57) and nonfatal myocardial infarction (n = 39) occurred in 96 patients (2.4%/3 years) when hard events were the endpoints. When severe heart failure was included as an endpoint, major cardiac events that developed in 175 patients (4.3%/3 years) comprised cardiac death (n = 45), nonfatal myocardial infarction (n = 37), and severe heart failure (n = 93). Normal and severely abnormal summed stress score values were associated with low (2.31%/3 years) and high (9.21%/3 years) rates of major cardiac events, respectively. Rates of major cardiac events were significantly higher in patients with ejection fraction (EF) <45% than in those with EF 45% or higher (16.55 vs 2.94%/3 years; P < 0.001). The incidence of major cardiac events within 3 years was also significantly higher among patients with high end-systolic volumes. The major event rates were similar among nondiabetic patients with and diabetic patients without prior myocardial infarction at 5.06% and 5.73%/3 years, respectively.

Cardiac event rates were significantly lower in the Japanese than in the USA and European populations. However, large myocardial perfusion defects and decreased cardiac function, as well as diabetes mellitus, could be predictors of high event rates and, thus, beneficial for risk stratification of Japanese patients with ischemic heart diseases.