Contrast study of sensitivity and specificity between magnetocardiography and electrocardiogram in early diagnosis of coronary artery disease in patients with acute chest pain

AIM To investigate the sensitivity of magnetocardiography (MCG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) for the early diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with acute chest pain. METHODS Two hundred and eighty seven patients with acute chest pain were selected. MCG recordings and ECG data of these patients were obtained and ventricular repolarization measurements including QRS-, R-, T-wave and ST-T period were compared between MCG and ECG. All patients underwent coronary angiogram and patients with coronary artery narrowing ≥70% in at least 1-vessel were defined as CAD. RESULTS The sensitivity and specificity of MCG and ECG in diagnosing CAD were 86.7% and 77.2% vs. 70.1% and 37.7%. CONCLUSION MCG has higher sensitivity and specificity than ECG. Thus, MCG is of potential clinical application in early diagnosis of CAD in patients with chest pain.