title: [Usefulness of stress echocardiography in the diagnosis of syndrome X].
abstract: Syndrome X is a clinical entity not yet well defined. The identification of patients with syndrome X is important as, in comparison with patients with obstructive coronary artery disease, their prognosis is quite favorable. The diagnosis is confirmed by coronary angiography, but non-invasive tools can give some useful information, too. We illustrate 5 cases of syndrome X in which the diagnosis, confirmed by coronary angiography, was suspected on the basis of stress echocardiography. We considered 5 female patients, aged 49-65 years, whose exercise electrocardiogram showed signs of reduced coronary reserve. In 3 patients thallium-201 myocardial scintigram was also performed, showing areas of reduced myocardial perfusion in all cases. We suggest the use of stress echocardiography, particularly with dipyridamole, whenever the clinical conditions contrast with the results of exercise ECG.
authors.affiliation: Divisione di Cardiologia e UTIC, Ospedale Predabissi, Vizzolo Predabissi, MI.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Planca
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alberzoni
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fea
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Colombo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D004176:Dipyridamole; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017566:Microvascular Angina / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014665:Vasodilator Agents
chemical_list: D014665:Vasodilator Agents; D004176:Dipyridamole