[A comparative study on coronary angiography and exercise ECG testing].

Both coronary angiography and exercise ECG testing were done in 461 patients. The comparative study showed that positive results of exercise ECG testing down-slope or horizontal depression of ST segment more than 0.1 mV during or after exercise may predict coronary artery disease, the sensitivity was 74.5% (322 cases) and specificity 84.2% (139 cases). With the use of ST depression more than 0.2 mV as the super-positive standard, the sensitivity and specificity of positive exercise ECG testing to predict triple vessel disease and left main coronary disease was 61.3% and 79.1%, respectively. The workload and the increment of systolic blood pressure had a negative correlation (r = -0.4531 and -0.3), but the duration of ST depression had a positive correlation (r = 0.4502) with the number of diseased coronary arteries. The patients with multi-vessel disease and left main coronary artery disease had a higher positive rate of exercise ECG testing as compared with the patients with single or double vessel disease. The female patients had a higher false positive rate than the male. It is concluded that exercise ECG testing has some value in diagnosing coronary artery disease and predicting its severity. Some parameters in exercise is helpful to predict the severity of coronary artery disease.