The Role of Exercise Electrocardiographic Test in Determining the Extent of Coronary Artery Disease in Comparison to Coronary Angiography in Erbil-Iraq

Abstract

Background and objective:

Exercise Electrocardiographic Test (EET) is one of non-invasive modalities used to assess patients with  coronary artery disease (CAD). The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of this test in determining the extent of CAD in comparison with coronary angiography among a sample in Erbil-Iraq.

Patients and Methods:

The study was conducted from April 2014 to April 2015 in Erbil-Iraq. A total of 160 adult patients with anginal chest pain and normal baseline 12-lead electrocardiographic (ECG) test were evaluated. All patients underwent EET and coronary angiography. Among these patients, only 83 patients (58 males and 25 females) with positive coronary angiographic results were included in this study. Patients with positive coronary angiographic results were classified into three groups according to the number of coronary artery involved. A correlation between EET and coronary angiographic results was studied.

Results:

There were 160 patients in this study, 115 patients (71.87%) of them had positive EET. Out of 115 patients, only 83 patients (72.1%) had positive coronary angiographic test. Those patients were further classified into three groups according to the number of the coronary artery involved, Group 1; nine patients with one vessel, Group 2; 43 patients with two vessel, and Group 3; 31 patients with three vessel diseases . Typical anginal chest pain, the number of risk factors, ST/HR index, the number of leads with ST segment depression, timing, and depth of ST segment depression showed statistically significant association with the number of vessel involved.

Conclusion:

Positive EET was more in patients with two and three vessel disease. EET is of greatest diagnostic value in patients with typical anginal chest pain .

Keywords: Exercise electrocardiographic test, coronary artery disease, coronary angiography.