The Particulars: Little is known about the diagnostic performance of high-speed single positron emission computed tomography (HS-SPECT) for detecting coronary artery disease (CAD). Few studies have compared HS-SPECT with invasive coronary angiography (ICA) in obese patients.

Data Breakdown: For a study, investigators reviewed data on obese patients who underwent upright and/or supine HS-SPECT. More than half of these patients had recently undergone ICA. HS-SPECT had a diagnostic accuracy of 50% or greater for detecting CAD and 70% or greater for detecting stenosis. These rates were similar to the respective rates observed for ICA. The specificity of HS-SPECT increased significantly when upright and supine acquisition were both applied, when compared with using either approach alone.

Take Home Pearls: HS-SPECT appears to have a similarly high diagnostic accuracy for detecting CAD by both quantitative and visual analyses when compared with ICA. Specificity appears to increase when both upright and supine acquisitions are applied.

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