Feasibility of DSE with and without Intravenous Contrast
Enhancement
Table II shows the number of well-visualized and interpretable regional
LV segments in the group of patients who received intravenous contrast
and in the group of patients who did not receive intravenous contrast.
Each LV plane is accompanied by the number of segments that were
visualized well enough to assess for myocardial ischemia. The associated
p value indicates whether the differences between the proportion of
well-visualized and interpretable LV segments between the 2 groups was
statistically significant, both at baseline and at peak stress. A total
of 1056 LV segments were evaluated in the group that received
intravenous contrast. Of these, the number of segments that were
well-visualized and interpretable was 1046 (99.1%) at baseline and 1044
(98.9%) at peak stress (p=0.975). A total of 992 LV segments were
evaluated in the group that did not receive intravenous contrast. Of
these, the number of segments were well-
Alpert
visualized and interpretable were 905 ((91.6%) at baseline and 886
(89.3%) at peak stress (p=0.745). The proportion of well-visualized and
interpretable segments in the group that received intravenous contrast
was significantly higher than that of the group that did not receive
intravenous contrast, both at baseline (p < 0.00001) and
during peak stress (p < 0.00001). Poorly-visualized
uninterpretable images in ≥ 2 segments were present in 1 of the 66
patients who received intravenous contrast and in 8 of the 62 patients
who did not receive intravenous contrast (p < 0.02).