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CLINICAL STUDIES

Low-level exercise echocardiography detects contractile reserve and predicts reversible dysfunction after acute myocardial infarction

Comparison with low-dose dobutamine echocardiography

^a Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Sart Tilman, Liège, Belgium

Manuscript received February 11, 1999; revised manuscript received May 7, 1999, accepted June 23, 1999.

Reprint requests and correspondence: Dr. Luc A. Piérard, Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Sart Tilman B-35, 4000 Liège, Belgium
lpierard{at}chu.ulg.ac.be

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to evaluate low-level exercise echocardiography (LLEE) in detecting contractile reserve and predicting functional improvement of akinetic myocardium early after acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

BACKGROUND

Experimental and clinical studies have shown that low-dose dobutamine enhances contractile function of dyssynergic but viable myocardium in patients with recent AMI. We hypothesized that endogenous catecholamines produced during a LLEE test could serve as a myocardial stressor to elicit contractile reserve.

METHODS

Fifty-two consecutive patients with first AMI and 2 akinetic segments in the infarct-related territory underwent 5 ± 2 days after AMI low-dose dobutamine echocardiography (LDDE) (5, 10 and 15 µg/kg/min) and LLEE (25 W during 3 min on a supine bicycle, with continuous echocardiographic recording). Both tests were performed on the same day, in random order. Follow-up echocardiography was obtained one month later. Regional wall thickening was semi-quantitatively assessed using a 16-segment, 5-grade scale model. Contractile reserve was defined as improvement in wall thickening of 1 grade.

RESULTS

Mean increase in heart rate during stress tests was 15 ± 7 beats/min with LLEE and 13 ± 6 beats/min with LDDE (p = NS). Contractile reserve was detected in 119 (55%) of 217 akinetic segments at LLEE and in 137 (63%) segments at LDDE. At follow-up study, functional improvement was identified in 139 (64%) segments. Sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values for predicting functional recovery were 81%, 92%, 95% and 73%, respectively, for LLEE, and 91%, 86%, 92% and 84%, respectively, for LDDE. Moreover, there was a good correlation between systolic wall thickening measured in the center of the dyssynergic area during stress tests and at follow-up study: r = 0.77, p < 0.001 with exercise testing and r = 0.73, p < 0.001 with dobutamine testing.

CONCLUSIONS

Low-level exercise echocardiography provides a promising alternative to LDDE for identifying myocardial viability and predicting reversible dysfunction early after AMI.

Abbreviations and Acronyms   AMI = acute myocardial infarction   LDDE = low-dose dobutamine echocardiography   LLEE = low-level exercise echocardiography   PTCA = percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty

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