RELATION BETWEEN THE INCIDENCE OF ARRHYTHMIAS AND ISCHEMIC ST-SEGMENT DEPRESSION DURING DIPYRIDAMOLE ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY TEST IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY-ARTERY DISEASE

To examine the incidence of arrhythmias in dipyridamole infusion and the relation between dipyridamole-induced arrhythmias and ST-segment depression, dipyridamole electrocardiography tests were performed on 100 patients with coronary artery disease. Dipyridamole was infused at a rate of 0.568 mg/kg for 4 min, and 87-lead body surface mapping was performed to determine ischemic ST-segment depression. Positive ischemic response was defined as greater-than-or-equal-to 0.10 mV horizontal or downsloping ST-segment depression below the baseline, lasting 80 msec after the J point. Arrhythmias were observed by continuous electrocardiographic monitoring using a CM-5 lead electrocardiography. With respect to ventricular premature contractions (VPC), a group of patients with previous myocardial infarction (MI group) had a significantly higher incidence than a group of patients without previous myocardial infarction (non-MI group) before (16.7% vs. 1.7%, p < 0.01) and after (38.1% vs. 3.4%, p < 0.005) the dipyridamole infusion. The incidence of supraventricular premature contractions (SVPC), however, was not significantly different between the MI and non-MI groups. A group of patients with positive ischemic response had a significantly higher incidence of SVPC after the dipyridamole infusion than a group of patients with negative ischemic response (p < 0.005). However, there was no significant difference in the incidence of VPC between the negative and positive ischemic response groups. These results suggest that dipyridamole-induced VPC is not always associated with ischemic ST-segment depression, but dipyridamole-induced SVPC is associated with dipyridamole-induced ischemic ST-segment depression in patients with coronary artery disease.