Variables associated with a poor prognosis in patients with an ischemic thallium-201 exercise test.

To determine the exercise workload, ECG, and thallium-201 image parameters that are most closely associated with a poor prognosis from ischemic heart disease, the test results of 268 patients were reviewed. Only patients with unequivocal thallium-201 redistribution were selected. A multivariate analysis was performed to find the variables that were most strongly associated with the outcomes of coronary revascularization, myocardial infarction, and cardiac death during a follow-up period of 25 +/- 19 months. Patients who underwent early elective revascularization had poorer exercise tolerance and more thallium image abnormalities than those with no events. In the remaining patients myocardial infarction was most closely related to the extent and severity of thallium ischemia (p = 0.0086), whereas cardiac death was associated with abnormal thallium lung uptake (p = 0.0082) and an inability to exercise to 9.6 MET (p = 0.0144). Thus unlike myocardial infarction, cardiac death is best predicted by variables that reflect poor left ventricular function rather than those that indicate ischemia.