[Stress imaging in coronary artery disease: state of the art]

To date, several diagnostic tools allow an accurate non-invasive evaluation of coronary artery disease; this is due to the great progress in echocardiographic and nuclear imaging techniques in the last 10 years. The large availability of different stress imaging techniques allows to choose the most appropriate technique for each patient according to the clinical characteristics. This paper presents the state of the art of echocardiographic and nuclear stress imaging for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease and for the prognostic stratification of infarcted patients. Advantages and limits of the different techniques are described rather than putting in competition echo and nuclear cardiology as has often been done in the past. Cardiologists should select among the various techniques on the basis of clinical characteristics of single patients, center's experience and an objective evaluation of economical aspects.