Nuclear Cardiac Stress Test- Reliable?

[L667]

How reliable are Nuclear Cardiac Stress Tests?  I was told that 15 % are false positives and only 1% are real positives.  What other tests can be done to check for coronary disease?

[Dr J Singh]

Hi,
If a patient is capable of achieving the target heart rate during exercise and if good-quality images are obtained, a nuclear stress test can accurately diagnose a serious disease in approximately 85% of patients with coronary artery disease. However, in 10-15 % of patients, a false positive test may occur. However, there are other stress tests like a stress ECG or a stress echo which can help in confirmation or ruling out the presence of coronary artery disease. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care.