Low event rate for stress-only perfusion imaging in patients evaluated for chest pain.

Objectives: We sought to demonstrate the safety of stress-only perfusion imaging among patients with low to medium probability of coronary disease being evaluated for chest pain.

Background: The need for performing rest in addition to stress perfusion imaging to confirm normalcy is due largely to defects created on the stress images by attenuation artifacts. A low cardiac event rate among patients undergoing stress-only imaging with attenuation correction (AC) would validate the safety of stress-only imaging.