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).