title: Potential clinical perspectives of Doppler myocardial imaging and strain rate imaging during stress echocardiography.
abstract: Stress echocardiography has become a common non-invasive test in patients with chest pain and known or suspected coronary artery disease, but, as with exercise electrocardiography, it shows several major limitations. Analysis of gray-scale images based on subjective visual interpretation of wall motion and thickening has considerable variability even among experts. Doppler myocardial imaging and strain rate imaging echocardiography provides additional information in comparison with conventional echocardiography. These techniques provide quantification of regional wall motion at rest and during stress. Quantification of both systolic and diastolic myocardial function by either Doppler myocardial imaging or strain rate imaging mapping during dobutamine stress test has been shown to be a feasible, accurate, non-invasive tool that should be considered to be a sensitive alternative to the present echocardiographic and scintigraphic imaging techniques for stress tests. Time consuming off-line analysis of color images is required in the present state of technology. However, these non-invasive techniques are rapidly evolving and expanding. Further refinements in signal processing and quantitative analysis are likely in the near future.
authors.affiliation: Non-invasive Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Monaldi Hospital Naples, Italy. pio.caso@tin.it
authors.forename: Pio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caso
authors.forename: Antonello
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Andrea
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Trambaiolo
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Salvo
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Severino
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Caso
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ancona
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Calabrò
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mininni
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Calabrò
mesh_terms: D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler / Q000379:methods; D025401:Echocardiography, Stress / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D016276:Ventricular Function