In a group of 357 patients presenting to the emergency room, 20 had a documented myocardial infarction (MI). Resting perfusion imaging with technetium-99m tetrofosmin had a sensitivity of 90 percent but a positive PV of only 12 percent since most positive tests were false positives. However, a negative study was associated with a very low cardiac event rate (negative PV 99 percent).
PV: predictive value.
Redrawn from: Heller GV, Stowers SA, Hendel RA. J Am Coll Cardiol 1998; 31:1011.