Objective: To assess the myocardial ischemic load to previous and after myocardial revascularization.
Methods: Ninety-six randomized patients, carriers of multivessel coronary artery disease, stable angina, preserved left ventricular function, and exercise-induced myocardial ischemia treated with revascularization (SMR) or coronary angioplasty (TCA). Myocardial scintigraphy with 99mTc-Sestamibi was performed prior to and 6 months after myocardial revascularization.
Results: The SMR determined a significant greater index of complete revascularization (p=0.001), an increase in the number of maximum ergometric tests (p=0.001) and reduction in the number of positive ergometric tests with exercise angina (p=0.018). Both procedures provided an important improvement in the functional class of angina (p=0.001), an increase in the average value of double peak product (p=0.009), and the time of exercise tolerance (p<0.001), besides the reduction in the average value of the summed of exercise score (p<0.001) and the difference of the summed of scores (p<0.001) in both groups.
Conclusion: TCA and SMR did not differ significantly concerning the reduction of myocardial ischemic load 6 months after the procedure. The myocardial revascularization was more complete with the SMR than the TCA, but it did not represent a significant factor for the reduction myocardial ischemic load.