| Title | Can contrast dobutamine stress echocardiography be performed with standardized imaging settings for everybody? |
| Author(s) | Thibault H, Timperley J, Ehlgen A, Pariente A, Dawson D, Becher H |
| Institution | Department of Cardiology, The John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford, United Kingdom. |
| Source | J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2005 Nov; 18(11):1194-202. |
| MeSH | Albumins
Contrast Media
Coronary Arteriosclerosis
Dobutamine
Echocardiography
Exercise Test
Fluorocarbons
France
Great Britain
Humans
Image Enhancement
Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted
Phospholipids
Physician's Practice Patterns
Reference Standards
Reproducibility of Results
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Sensitivity and Specificity
Sulfur Hexafluoride
Ventricular Dysfunction, Left
|
| Abstract | OBJECTIVE: The objective was to assess a standardized imaging and contrast injection protocol for contrast-enhanced dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE).
METHODS: A total of 102 patients underwent DSE with tissue harmonic imaging and a standardized protocol with contrast power modulation. Contrast intensities in the left ventricular cavity and the myocardium were evaluated by a visual score and quantitative analysis.
RESULTS: Of the contrast studies, 98% were diagnostic without modification of the settings. Excellent endocardial border definition was found in 93% of the segments with contrast versus 53% with tissue harmonic imaging (P < .05). The interobserver agreement in assessing segmental wall motion improved from 71.5% to 85.9%. There were no differences between the myocardial segments' video intensity in the four- and three-chamber views. In the two-chamber view video intensity was lower in the basal segments compared with the other segments.
CONCLUSION: Power modulation contrast imaging can be applied with a completely standardized protocol for DSE in the majority of patients with excellent endocardial border definition. |
| Language | eng |
| Pub Type(s) | Clinical Trial
Journal Article
|
| PubMed ID | 16275529 |
