[Exercise echocardiography. A new valuable method for demonstration or exclusion of myocardial ischemia]

The aim of our study was to assess the diagnostic value of exercise echocardiography compared with exercise ECG and coronary arteriography. Exercise echocardiography was performed in 60 consecutive patients referred for coronary arteriography because of suspected coronary artery disease. Echocardiography was carried out in combination with bicycle exercise ECG and was performed 1) at rest before exercise with the patient supine, 2) at peak exercise on the bicycle and 3) immediately after exercise in supine position. Conventional standard views were recorded by means of an image computer. For the regional wall motion analysis, images were displayed simultaneously from the rest, peak and post exercise situations in a quadscreen format. Ischemia was diagnosed when wall motion deteriorated from rest to peak or post exercise in at least one out of a total of 16 left ventricular segments. Analysis was made without knowledge of patient data or results of exercise ECG or coronary arteriography. No patient was excluded because of reduced echocardiographic image quality during exercise or other technical reason. Coronary arteriography was performed in all patients and used as reference. The sensitivity of exercise echocardiography was 91% and the specificity 100%. The predictive value of a positive test was 100% and the predictive value of a negative test 78%. For exercise ECG the corresponding values were 58%, 100%, 100% and 39% respectively. We conclude that exercise echocardiography seems to be useful for the diagnosis and exclusion of ischemic heart disease. This and other studies indicate that the method is more sensitive than exercise ECG.