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| |  Heart Scan Can Reduce Rate Of Missed Heart Attacks In ER TORONTO, ON -- June 12, 1998 -- Important new research slated for presentation at the 45th annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine demonstrates the critical role of DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co.’s heart imaging agent Cardiolite(R) (Kit for the Preparation of Technetium Tc99m Sestamibi) in hospital emergency departments. Cardiolite, used in conjunction with an imaging technique called stress myocardial perfusion imaging (stress MPI), has the potential to save lives, reduce the length of hospital stays and cost-effectively improve outcomes for patients suffering from acute chest pain. An estimated five million patients arrive in emergency departments each year suffering from acute chest pain and other symptoms suggesting heart disease. As a result of diagnostic uncertainty, about 40 percent of patients with chest pain are admitted to hospitals at an annual cost as high as $10 to 13 billion US per year. Despite a high number of admissions for chest pain, an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 heart attacks patients are mistakenly sent home each year without being admitted to the hospital. By one estimate, 26 percent of missed heart attacks are fatal. “There is a recognised need among the emergency medicine and cardiology communities for better care for patients who come to emergency departments with acute chest pain,” said Jack Ziffer, MD, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study and director of cardiac imaging at Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute. “Heart attacks resulting from missed diagnoses result in both lost quality of life for patients and the use of valuable hospital resources. This new research establishes a clear role for stress MPI with Cardiolite in better assessing a patient's cardiac health, which results in enhanced treatment decisions in the ED.” More than 70 abstracts being presented at this year's conference involved Cardiolite. It is the only cardiac imaging agent that is FDA-approved to assess both perfusion (blood flow to the heart muscle) and heart function (how well the heart is pumping), two critical indicators of cardiac health. Cardiolite is also the only imaging agent in the U.S. approved for acquiring diagnostic information for use in patient management decisions. Researchers from the Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute and Baptist Hospital, Miami, FL. and Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA., examined data from more than 2,700 patients who underwent MPI. In the study, the majority of patients received Cardiolite for their stress MPI tests. Patients in the study were compared to a similar cohort of emergency department patients seen one year earlier, whose conditions were assessed using conventional evaluation methods. The heart attack rate for outpatients discharged in the study decreased by 94 percent relative to those evaluated using conventional techniques. Researchers conclude that MPI, when used under specific protocols in a dedicated chest pain centre, has the potential to cost-effectively improve patient care and outcomes. In a separate study also conducted at Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute and Baptist Hospital, researchers studied the ability of gated SPECT with a Cardiolite stress test to diagnose coronary artery disease in patients whose chest pain had resolved before being evaluated in the ED. Researchers studied 2,910 patients over 24 months who had arrived at their chest pain centre with acute chest pain that had recently resolved. In patients with severe coronary artery disease (greater than 70 percent blockage of a coronary artery), researchers found that while an abnormal rest scan was 81 percent accurate in predicting a heart attack, it detected coronary artery disease only 36 percent of the time. In striking contrast, the sensitivity increased to 98 percent when a Cardiolite stress test was added. “Many patients who have had a complete resolution of their chest pain still have underlying coronary artery disease," Dr. Ziffer said. “Rest myocardial perfusion imaging is not very sensitive for detecting this problem, which puts them at even greater risk if they are showing no symptoms and think their condition has gone away. Stress imaging with Sestamibi is very effective in identifying patients with resolved symptoms who are at risk for a sudden heart attack and who require additional treatment." There have been rare reports of signs and symptoms consistent with severe hypersensitivity and seizure after administration of Technetium Tc99m Sestamibi for cardiac imaging. More information on: Cardiolite
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