Clinical Usefulness and Safety of Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography for the Detection of Significant Stenosis in the Infarcted Area

Abstract

We evaluated the usefulness and safety of dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) for the detection of significant stenosis in the Infarcted area and also for assessment of the infarct-related coronary artery. We performed DSE in 93 patients with both acute and old myocardial infarction. The development of myocardial infarction involved the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) in 39, the left circumflex coronary artery (LCX) in 26, and the right coronary artery (RCA) in 28 patients. 1-vessel disease was observed in 60 patients, 2-vessel disease in 23, and 3-vessel disease in 10. DSE had a sensitivity of 82.5% and specificity of 73.6% for detecting significant stenosis (>75%) of infarct-related coronary arteries. The sensitivity and specificity of DSE in detecting significant stenosis classified by infarct-related coronary arterial branches were 85.0% and 68.5% for the LAD, 83.3% and 95.0% for the LCX, and 78.6% and 50.0% for the RAD, respectively. There were no complications such as angina pectoris or myocardial infarction associated with DSE that required treatment. In conclusion, our results suggest that DSE is a useful and safe method for detecting significant stenosis, even in the infarcted area.