Right Ventricular Dysfunction Secondary to Myocardial Ischemia Provoked by Stress Testing

We present the cases of two patients, aged 59 and 85 years, who were evaluated with stress echocardiography for chest pain. Both patients developed dramatic echocardiographic findings consisting of severe right ventricular enlargement and hypokinesis, as well as enlargement of the right atrium at relatively low-level exercise. One patient collapsed with severe sinus bradycardia, junctional rhythm, ST elevation in the inferior leads, marked hypotension, and neck vein congestion. The other patient developed staggering and symptoms of hypoperfusion. In both patients, correction of critical proximal right coronary artery stenosis by angioplasty resulted in complete resolution of the right ventricular dysfunction on repeat stress testing. We conclude that in some patients, stress-induced myocardial ischemia may involve primarily the right ventricle with little or no evidence of ischemic changes in the left ventricle. An assessment of right ventricular function should be included in stress echocardiographic studies.