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A normal result on exercise cardiac imaging is frequently used to stratify patients into a low-risk subgroup. In this meta-analysis, researchers determined the prognostic value of normal exercise imaging.
The analysis included prospective cohort studies of patients with “known or suspected coronary artery disease” who underwent exercise myocardial perfusion imaging, usually with thallium or sestamibi (17 studies), or exercise echocardiography (4 studies). Studies of patients with recent myocardial infarction, unstable angina, or revascularization were excluded, as were studies of pharmacologic stress testing. During a mean follow-up of about 3 years, the negative predictive values for MI and cardiac death were 98.8% for normal exercise myoca…