Myocardial scintigraphy - a method for detecting cardiac comorbidity in psoriasis patients?

• Published in: Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft Vol. 14; no. 10; pp. 1007 - 1014
• Main Authors: Zutt, Markus, Rudolph, Hagen, Kaune, Kjell Matthias, Wosniok, Werner, Gärtner, Ulrich, Linke, Rainer
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.2016; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Cardiac-Gated Single-Photon Emission Computer-Assisted Tomography - methods; Cardiac-Gated Single-Photon Emission Computer-Assisted Tomography - statistics & numerical data; Comorbidity; Female; Germany - epidemiology; Humans; Male; Microvascular Angina - diagnostic imaging; Microvascular Angina - epidemiology; Middle Aged; Psoriasis - diagnostic imaging; Psoriasis - epidemiology; Reproducibility of Results; Risk Factors; Sensitivity and Specificity
• ISSN: 1610-0379; 1610-0387; 1610-0387
• DOI: 10.1111/ddg.12892

Summary Background In recent years, cardiac comorbidities in psoriasis patients have increasingly moved into the focus of clinical research. The objective of the present study was to evaluate myocardial scintigraphy as a screening method in patients with psoriasis. Patients and methods Assessment of various comorbidities in 50 psoriasis patients without clinical symptoms of cardiac disease. Myocardial scintigraphy was employed to detect cardiac risk/exercise‐induced ischemia. Results Twenty‐eight patients (56 %) had pathological findings on myocardial scintigraphy. Fourteen individuals showed evidence of small‐vessel disease (cardiac syndrome X). Other comorbidities included obesity, arterial hypertension, nicotine and alcohol abuse, as well as elevated CRP levels. Frequencies largely corresponded to those reported in the recent literature. There was no significant correlation between the severity of psoriasis or any comorbidities and pathological findings on myocardial scintigraphy. Conclusions Myocardial scintigraphy seems to be a very sensitive, noninvasive method for the early detection of cardiac comorbidities in psoriasis patients. However, determining its true diagnostic value will require larger studies with control subjects and control methods such as coronary angiography.