[Exercise two-dimensional echocardiography: correlation between exercise induced asynergy and coronary artery...

Exercise two-dimensional (2-D) echocardiography was performed in patients with suspected coronary artery disease, and exercise induced left ventricular asynergy was evaluated qualitatively and was compared with the coronary artery stenosis and electrocardiographic ST changes. Subjects were 12 patients with angina of effort, 8 patients with spontaneous angina, 8 patients with chest pain syndrome with the normal coronary artery, and 7 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Cases with myocardial infarction were excluded from this study. 1) Left ventricular asynergy during exercise was observed in 10 and ST depression in 11 of 12 patients with angina of effort. In patients with spontaneous angina, left ventricular asynergy and ST depression during exercise were observed in 2 of 8 patients without anginal pain, and both patients had coronary artery stenosis of 90% or more. 2) Exercise induced asynergy was also observed in 4 of 7 patients with HCM without coronary artery stenosis. It seemed likely that the markedly hypertrophied myocardium and impairment of left ventricular compliance and relaxation may induce relative myocardial ischemia.