Purpose Regadenoson was approved for clinical use in
Europe in 2011. Since then, it has become the default form
of stress at our institution. We have assessed the side-effect
profile and tolerability of regadenoson in patients undergoing
clinically indicated myocardial perfusion scintigraphy between
July 2011 and July 2012.
Methods Clinical, stress and imaging data were recorded prospectively.
Symptoms during stress were recorded and defined
as mild, moderate or severe. An adverse event was defined as
any symptom that persisted for more than 30 min or that
required investigation or treatment.
Results Of 1,764 consecutive patients, 1,581 (90 %) received
regadenoson combined with submaximal exercise unless contraindicated.
Symptoms were common (63 %) but transient
and well-tolerated. The severity of symptoms was recorded in
most patients as mild (84 %). Dyspnoea (36 %) and chest
discomfort (12 %) were the commonest side effects. Adverse
events were reported in eight patients (0.5 %), thought to be
vasovagal in seven of these. All patients recovered fully
without sequelae. There were no deaths, myocardial infarction
or hospital admissions. Regadenoson stress was performed in
206 patients (12 %) with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD) without bronchospasm or any other
major side effect. Conclusion We studied the symptom profile of regadenoson
in the largest European cohort to date. Regadenoson combined
with submaximal exercise was well tolerated, notably
also in patients with asthma or COPD. The majority of
regadenoson-related adverse events were vasovagal episodes
without sequelae.