[Comparative evaluation of bicycle ergometry and coronary radiography results in stenocardia as a function of the ECG...

The authors undertook a comparative study of the results of bicycle ergometry and angiocardiography in two clinically homogeneous groups of patients with angina pectoris: without ischemic displacement (group I, 83 patients) and with displacement (group II, 85 patients) of the S--T segment on the ECG during an anginal attack induced by physical exercise. It is shown that the considerable diminution of functional reserves of coronary circulation in all patients revealed in bicycle ergometry was combined with marked coronary atherosclerosis. Affection of two or three arteries was encountered in 96.4% of patients in group I and in 88.2% of patients in group II. In group I patients the attacks of angina pectoris develop with lower values of double production, while the intercoronary collaterals on the coronarograms are more pronounced. The authors substantiate the reliability of a typical anginal attack induced by physical exertion as a criterion of positive bicycle ergometry test irrespective of the concomitant reaction of the S--T segment on the ECG.