Standard clinical and stress electrocardiogram variables to exclude left main and left main-equivalent disease: the MASTER study

The authors of the MASTER study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of using clinical and electrocardiogram stress testing (EST) variables to reliably exclude left main coronary artery disease (LMCAD) or LMCAD-equivalent in patients with chronic coronary syndrome (CCS). Their findings indicate that a risk model developed from these parameters can achieve a high negative predictive value of 98.2%, allowing for the safe avoidance of invasive coronary angiography in a significant portion of patients, particularly in settings with limited access to advanced imaging techniques.