In recent years, imaging techniques such as the most commonly used single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), have gradually replaced exercise treadmill tests for diagnosing heart disease. Now a five-year trial of over 750 heart disease patients conducted by the University of Leeds in the UK suggests that a more modern scanning method based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is better for diagnosing coronary heart disease than SPECT and should be more widely adopted.
The findings could change the way patients with suspected heart disease are tested, not least because the MRI approach, called multiparametric cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), does not involve invasive procedures or ionizing radiation.
In a paper published online on 23 December in The Lancet, lead author Dr John Greenwood, senior lecturer and consultant cardiologist at Leeds, and colleagues, conclude that CMR is superior to SPECT, which varies in accuracy and exposes patients to ionizing radiation. They conclude that CMR should form part of all evidence-based clinical management guidelines for the diagnosis of coronary heart disease (CHD).
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