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(Circulation. 1997;95:8-10.)
© 1997 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography

Stressing the Indications for Preoperative Testing

David S. Bach, MD; Kim A. Eagle, MD

the Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology and the Heart Care Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Correspondence to David S. Bach, MD, UH B1F245-0022, 1500 E Medical Center Dr, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. E-mail dbach@umich.edu.

Key Words: Editorials • echocardiography • dobutamine • stress • surgery

	Introduction

 
In the current issue of Circulation, Poldermans et al¹ report on the long-term prognostic value of dobutamine stress echocardiography in patients undergoing major vascular surgery. Their findings add to the growing literature on the use of exercise and dobutamine stress echocardiography as adjuncts in the assessment of prognosis among patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. To date, the published experience with dobutamine stress echocardiography for assessment of prognosis and perioperative risk is relatively small compared with that using nuclear perfusion imaging techniques. Stress echocardiography is a more recently developed technique to detect coronary artery disease and myocardial ischemia, and all studies related to prognosis have been published since 1991. However, stress echocardiography is of increasing importance because of the increasing availability these techniques and because ofseveral advantages it offers over nuclear perfusion imaging. In addition to providing apparently equivalent data with respect to the presence and extent of coronary artery disease and myocardium at risk, dobutamine stress echocardiography allows assessment of valvular anatomy and function as well as resting and stress ventricular systolic function. This allows a more complete assessment of overall cardiac function, pertinent especially among patients with a history of congestive heart failure or cardiac murmur. Finally, stress echocardiographic techniques appear to have lower associated costs than the equivalent nuclear perfusion imaging counterparts, which may become increasingly important as the healthcare environment requires the delivery of cost-effective medical care.

	The Present Report

 
Poldermans et al² and others^{3 4} have previously published reports on the utility of dobutamine stress echocardiography in . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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