title: Comparison of digital dipyridamole stress echocardiography and upright bicycle stress echocardiography for identification of coronary artery stenosis.
abstract: This study compared the diagnostic accuracy of dipyridamole (0.84 mg i.v./10 min) and bicycle stress echocardiography in 37 patients with inconclusive standard bicycle electrocardiography (ECG) tests; all underwent coronary angiography. Sensitivity for detection of coronary stenosis with dipyridamole echocardiography was 68% (21 of 31 patients), and for 1-, 2- and 3-vessel disease 56, 69 and 83%, respectively. Overall bicycle echocardiography sensitivity was 84%, and 78, 88 and 83% for patients with 1-, 2- and 3-vessel disease, respectively. Dipyridamole echocardiography was negative in all 6 patients with negative coronary angiography (specificity 100%), bicycle echocardiography was positive in 2 (specificity 67%). We conclude that dipyridamole echocardiography tends to be less sensitive in patients with mild disease, but is more specific than bicycle echocardiography.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University Hospital of Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bjørnstad
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aakhus
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hatle
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000187:drug effects; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004176:Dipyridamole; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000187:drug effects*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000187:drug effects; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
chemical_list: D004176:Dipyridamole