An analysis of the safety of performing dobutamine stress echocardiography in an ambulatory setting.
Dobutamine echocardiography has become widely used in the past decade in the evaluation of patients with suspected coronary artery disease who are unable to undergo exercise treadmill or bicycle testing. The safety of this procedure has been studied in a hospital-based setting. However, no studies thus far have evaluated the safety of this procedure in an office-based setting, remote from a hospital. We performed dobutamine echocardiography on 127 patients in an office-based setting, remote from a hospital. Throughout the course of this study there were no deaths, myocardial infarctions, sustained episodes of ventricular tachycardia, or syncopal episodes associated with dobutamine infusion. The frequency of noncardiac side effects was 29%, the majority of which were nausea, vomiting, and paresthesias. Three patients had nonsustained ventricular tachycardia, none of whom had symptoms. We conclude that dobutamine echocardiography is safe, well tolerated, and useful in an office-based setting.
Gordon
B M
BM
Department of Internal Medicine, Riverside Methodist Hospitals, Columbus, OH, USA.
Mohan
V
V
Chapekis
A T
AT
Kander
N H
NH
Elwell
J
J
Antalis
G
G
Yakubov
S J
SJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D004280:Dobutamine / Q000009:adverse effects; D004452:Echocardiography; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000187:drug effects; D009325:Nausea / Q000139:chemically induced; D010292:Paresthesia / Q000139:chemically induced; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000139:chemically induced; D014839:Vomiting / Q000139:chemically induced
D004280:Dobutamine