PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Mary Beth Farrell
TI  - The Importance of Measurement for Quality Improvement: Submaximal Cardiac Stress Testing
AID  - 10.2967/jnmt.120.244525
DP  - 2020 Jun 01
TA  - Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
PG  - 122--125
VI  - 48
IP  - 2
4099  - http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/48/2/122.short
4100  - http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/48/2/122.full
SO  - J. Nucl. Med. Technol.2020 Jun 01; 48
AB  - One of the most effective techniques to improve quality is to measure quality. The aim of this article is to defend the importance of quality measurement in nuclear medicine using the long-standing problem of submaximal exercise stress testing. Numerous evidence-based guidelines and research studies establish the importance of maximal stress testing for myocardial perfusion imaging. The 3 cutoffs for adequate cardiac stress that must be met are expenditure of 5 metabolic equivalents of energy, production of symptoms (e.g., fatigue or shortness of breath), and attainment of 85% of the maximum predicted heart rate. Measurement and evaluation of these 3 criteria along with several other metrics can help to validate one aspect of laboratory quality related to myocardial perfusion imaging accuracy.