Exercise seismocardiography for detection of coronary artery disease

Seismocardiography is a noninvasive test being studied for use in conjunction with standard exercise testing to detect changes in cardiac function as a result of exercise-induced ischemia. To test the ability of exercise seismocardiography to detect coronary artery disease, exercise seismocardiograms were recorded on 1,221 patients undergoing routine exercise testing. From these, 204 patients were analyzed who had either coronary angiography or an estimated ≤ 2% risk of coronary disease. Sensitivity for detection of ≥ 50% coronary artery stenosis was 67% for electrocardiography and 80% for seismocardiography (p < 0.01). Specificity was 51% for electrocardiography and 69% for seismocardiography (p < 0.02). When both tests were abnormal, their positive predictive value was 88%. When both tests were normal, their negative predictive value was 80%. Exercise seismocardiography provided an easy, rapid adjunct to exercise electrocardiography for detection of coronary artery disease in this study.