[Stress echocardiography in Latin America. A review of 5 years (1997-2002)].
A review of the literature of the last 5 years (1997-2002) indexed in the MEDLINE and LILACS databases found 53 studies of stress echocardiography made in Latin America. More than half of the studies used dobutamine-induced stress. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy were generally more than 80%, similar to the results obtained in European and U.S. centers. As cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in most countries of Latin America, producing an estimated mortality of approximately 800,000 persons per year, stress-echocardiography is an economical and widely available imaging modality for the assessment of myocardial ischemia in selected patients. Original studies of contrast echocardiography have been made, but the expense of the procedure precludes more widespread use. Clinical and multicenter studies should be encouraged.
Acquatella
Harry
H
Centro Médico San Bernardino, Caracas, Venezuela. hacquatella@cantv.net
D025401:Echocardiography, Stress / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity