Assessment of left ventricular ejection dynamics in patients with coronary artery disease during dipyridamole-stress Doppler echocardiography.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the contribution of Doppler-echocardiographically derived aortic indexes of left ventricular systolic function during dipyridamole-stress to the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD).


METHODS
This was a clinical study.


METHODS
Echocardiographic studies under baseline and peak dipyridamole stresses were performed on 15 normal subjects and 32 patients with angiographically confirmed CAD. Peak Doppler velocity, acceleration, and acceleration time of the ascending aorta, as well as segmental left ventricular wall motion, were analyzed.


RESULTS
The sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy of wall-motion abnormalities induced by dipyridamole for the detection of CAD were 62.5, 100, and 74.5%, respectively. When wall-motion abnormalities were combined with the percentage changes in peak aortic velocity and acceleration, the overall sensitivities were 84.38 and 78.15%, respectively, the specificities were 66.7 and 80.00%, respectively, and the accuracy was 78.72% for both models. When all three parameters were combined, the sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy of the method were 87.5, 86.7, and 87.2%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Doppler-echocardiographically derived aortic indexes of left ventricular systolic function during dipyridamole stress could be a useful adjunct to two-dimensional echocardiography by improving its sensitivity in the diagnosis of CAD.
Parthenakis
F I
FI
Cardiology Department, University Hospital of Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
Skalidis
E I
EI
Kochiadakis
G E
GE
Zacharis
E A
EA
Karidis
C S
CS
Chlouverakis
G I
GI
Vardas
P E
PE
D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004176:Dipyridamole; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013318:Stroke Volume / Q000502:physiology; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*
D004176:Dipyridamole