Cardiopulmonary exercise testing is more accurate than ECG-stress testing in diagnosing myocardial ischemia in subjects with chest pain.

Background: Cardiopulmonary exercise stress testing (CPET) is used to grade the severity of heart failure and to assess its prognosis. However it is unknown whether CPET may improve diagnostic accuracy of standard ECG stress testing to identify or exclude obstructive coronary artery disease (O-CAD) in patients with chest pain.

Methods: We prospectively studied 1265 consecutive subjects (55 ± 8 years, 156 women) who were evaluated with ECG stress testing (ET) for chest pain.

Metabolic syndrome does not increase angiographic restenosis rates after drug-eluting stent implantation.

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular mortality; but its effect on patients undergoing cardiac revascularization is still unclear. Robust evidence demonstrates that diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance are among the main risk factors for restenosis in patients requiring percutaneous myocardial revascularization. The recent advent of drug-eluting stents (DESs) has significantly reduced the incidence of restenosis compared with bare-metal stents, both in nondiabetic and in diabetic patients.