Dobutamine stress myocardial function versus nuclear perfusion imaging

Confirming or excluding coronary artery disease in patients with chest pain remains a challenge because this disease is still the leading cause of death in the Western world (I). Traditionally, exercise electrocardiography is perfomled as a first-line noninvasive diagnostic stress test (2). However, a substantial number of patients referred for evaluation of chest pain are unable to perform adequate exercise testing, mainly because of decollditioning or neurologic, respiratory, peripheral vascular, or orthopedic limitations (3). In these patients, dobutamine stress represents an alternative, exercise independent stress technique. Usually, this fann of stress is combined with two-dimensional echocardiography, providing functional data on myocardial wall thickening (4), or nuclear perfusion imaging, providing data on myocardial perfusion (5). Despite the increasing number of dobutamine tests performed each year, little is known about the relative diagnostic and prognostic value of the two imaging modalities. In this thesis, a comparison between dobutamine stress echocardiogra

Can Stress Echocardiography Compete with Perfusion Scintigraphy in the Detection of Coronary Artery Disease and Cardiac Risk Assessment?

Aims: The aim of this review was to define the place of stress echocardiography in the context of perfusion scintigraphy for the detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) and the assessment of cardiac risk. Stress echocardiography has the benefits of widespread availability, relatively low cost, portability, absence of radiation, and the determination of the ischaemic threshold. However, the echocardiographic windows are variable, sometimes with poor echogenicity, and interpretation is subjective and requires an adequate learning period. Methods and Results:Diagnostic and prognostic comparisons were focused on studies compari

Methodology, feasibility, safety and diagnostic accuracy of dobutamine stress echocardiography

Large numbers of patients referred for evaluation of chest pain are unable to perform adequate, diagnostic exercise testing. In these patients, dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) represents an alternative, exercise- independent stress modality. Apart from the ~5% of patients with an inadequate acoustic window, 10% of patients referred for this test have nondiagnostic (sub-maximal negative) test results. Serious side effects during or shortly after DSE are uncommon, with ventricular fibrillation or myocardial infarction occurring in ~1 of 2,000 studies. No deaths have been reported. On the basis of a total number of 2,246 patients, reported in 28 studies, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the test for the detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) were 80%, 84% and 81%, respectively. Mean sensitivities for one-, two- and three-vessel disease were 74%, 86% and 92%, respectively. The sensitivity for detection of disease in the left circumflex coronary artery (55%) was lower, both compared with that for left anterior descending (72%) and right coronary artery disease (76%). The sensitivity of predicting multivessel disease by multiregion echocardiographic abnormalities varied widely, from 8% to 71%. In direct comparisons, DSE was superior to exercise electrocardiography and dipyridamole echocardiography and comparable to exercise echocardiography and radionuclide imaging. DSE is a useful, feasible and safe exercise-independent stress modality for assessing the presence, localization and extent of CAD

A simple, fast and reproducible echocardiographic approach to grade left ventricular diastolic function

The American Society of Echocardiography and European Association of Echocardiography (ASE/EAE) have published an algorithm for the grading of diastolic function. However, the ability to use this algorithm effectively in daily clinical practice has not been investigated. We hypothesized that in some patients it may be difficult to grade diastolic dysfunction with this scheme, since there may be discrepancies in the assessed parameters. The aim of the current study was to test the feasibility of the ASE/EAE algorithm and to compare this with a new Thoraxcenter (TXC) algorithm. The ASE/EAE and TXC algorithms were applied to 200 patients. The ASE/EAE algorithm starts with assessment of diastolic myocardial wall velocities and left atrial (LA) volumes with subsequent assessment of E/A ratio, E-wave deceleration time and pulmonary venous flow. The TXC algorithm reverses these steps, uses LA dimension instead of volume and does not include a Valsalva manoeuvre and pulmonary venous flow. Due to inconsistencies between diastolic myocardial wall velocities and LA volumes and a not covered E/A ratio in the range of 1.5–2 it was not possible to classify 48 % of patients with the ASE/EAE algorithm, as opposed to only 10 % by the TXC algorithm. LA volume was always needed in the ASE/EAE algorithm. In only 64 % of patients LA size was necessary by the TXC algorithm. When LA volume would have been used instead of LA dimension, grading of LV diastolic function would have been different in only 2 % of patients without apparent improvement. Assessment of LA dimension was considerably faster than LA volume. The TXC algorithm to grade LV diastolic dysfunction was compared to the ASE/EAE algorithm simpler, faster, better reproducible and yields a higher diagnostic outcome

A simple, fast and reproducible echocardiographic approach to grade left ventricular diastolic function

The American Society of Echocardiography and European Association of Echocardiography (ASE/EAE) have published an algorithm for the grading of diastolic function. However, the ability to use this algorithm effectively in daily clinical practice has not been investigated. We hypothesized that in some patients it may be difficult to grade diastolic dysfunction with this scheme, since there may be discrepancies in the assessed parameters. The aim of the current study was to test the feasibility of the ASE/EAE algorithm and to compare this with a new Thoraxcenter (TXC) algorithm. The ASE/EAE and TXC algorithms were applied to 200 patients. The ASE/EAE algorithm starts with assessment of diastolic myocardial wall velocities and left atrial (LA) volumes with subsequent assessment of E/A ratio, E-wave deceleration time and pulmonary venous flow. The TXC algorithm reverses these steps, uses LA dimension instead of volume and does not include a Valsalva manoeuvre and pulmonary venous flow. Due to inconsistencies between diastolic myocardial wall velocities and LA volumes and a not covered E/A ratio in the range of 1.5–2 it was not possible to classify 48 % of patients with the ASE/EAE algorithm, as opposed to only 10 % by the TXC algorithm. LA volume was always needed in the ASE/EAE algorithm. In only 64 % of patients LA size was necessary by the TXC algorithm. When LA volume would have been used instead of LA dimension, grading of LV diastolic function would have been different in only 2 % of patients without apparent improvement. Assessment of LA dimension was considerably faster than LA volume. The TXC algorithm to grade LV diastolic dysfunction was compared to the ASE/EAE algorithm simpler, faster, better reproducible and yields a higher diagnostic outcome

Transhepatic echocardiography: a novel approach for imaging in left ventricle assist device patients with difficult acoustic windows

Aims A significant proportion of left ventricle assist device (LVAD) patients have very difficult transthoracic echocardiographic images. The aim of this study was to find an echocardiographic window which would provide better visualization of the heart in LVAD patients with limited acoustic windows. ................................................................................................................................................................................................... Methods and results Based on the anatomic relationships in LVAD patients, a right intercostal transhepatic approach was proposed. By using a computer simulator, we searched for the appropriate probe orientation. Further, 15 ambulatory LVAD patients (age 56 ± 15 years, 73% males) underwent two echocardiographic studies: one normal transthoracic echocardiography following the institutional protocol (Echo 1) and a second study which included the transhepatic approach (Echo 2). The two exams were performed by two different sonographers and the results validated by a third observer for agreement. The transhepatic intercostal window was feasible in all patients, with an image quality allowing good visualization of structures in 93%. Precise quantification of the left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) function was achieved more often in the Echo 2 (10 vs. 3 patients for LV, P = 0.03 and 14 vs. 8 patients for RV, P = 0.04). A significant difference existed also in the quantification of the LVAD inflow cannula flow by pulsed Doppler (11 patients in Echo 2 vs. 3 patients in Echo 1, P = 0.009). ................