Early post-myocardial infarction treadmill stress testing. An accurate predictor of multivessel coronary disease and subsequent cardiac events.

Limited (heart rate to less than or equal to 120 beats/min) standardized treadmill stress testing was done before hospital discharge in 40 survivors of uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction. Each patient had subsequent coronary arteriography. Twenty-one had inferior, 10, anterior, and nine, nontransmural infarctions; in 30 patients this was their first infarction. A positive electrocardiographic response or angina, or both, occurred in 15 patients and correctly detected most patients with multivessel disease (sensitivity 67%, predictive value 87%) and patients at risk for coronary events: 35% of positive responders admitted for angina in the first month after discharge versus 4% of patients with a negative test (p less than 0.05). During a 7-month follow-up period, 73% of patients with a positive test result developed angina versus 16% of those with negative test results (p less than 0.001). Thus, predischarge post-myocardial infarction limited stress testing correctly identifies the high-risk subset of patients with multivessel coronary disease and thereby allows intelligent selection of patients for early coronary arteriography.