Coronary disease & ACSSecondary analysis

Long-Term Warranty Period of Stress Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) and Single-photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) in Stable Angina

JACC Cardiovasc ImagingPublished

  • Long-term follow-up of the CE-MARC prospective trial (prognostic cohort study)

Authors' conclusion

In a long-term prospective study of patients with stable chest pain, stress CMR remained a strong, independent predictor of hard cardiovascular events, with a warranty period of almost 7 years for a normal scan.

Study context

Population
Patients with suspected angina (stable chest pain) in the CE-MARC trialof 752 recruited
Participants
652 patients
Comparison
Stress CMR vs SPECT
Primary endpoint
MACE (CV death, MI, unplanned coronary revascularization) and warranty period of a normal test (time during which patients remained 97.5% free of MACE)
Follow-up
Median 15.5 years (Q1-Q3: 12.4-16.6 years)

Primary result

As reported in the abstract

Warranty period of a normal test result
Abnormal CMR as independent major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) predictor (adjusted for CV risk factors), HR 2.74, 95% CI 1.70-4.42
P < 0.001

Further findings

Events during follow-up (whole cohort) · median 15.5 years

CV deaths
40 (6.1%)
MI
29 (4.4%)
Unplanned revascularization
47 (7.2%)

Warranty period modifiers

Age, smoking and DM identified higher-risk patients with a reduced warranty period for a normal result

Original publication

Long-Term Warranty Period of Stress CMR and SPECT in Stable Angina. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. Published 15 September 2026. doi:10.1016/j.jcmg.2026.07.016

Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it