Evaluation of patients with myocardial infarction undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using low dose dobutamine stress echocardiography

Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a spectrum of heart diseases which has the highest mortality in the world. Systolic left ventricular (LV) function is an important predictor of outcome, and its precise assessment remains of great importance for the choice of treatment in populations with myocardial infarction (MI). This study was aimed to assess the function and viability of ischemic myocardium of LV before and after the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) by using 2dimentional (2D) STE with LDDSE and to know the usefulness of low dose dobutamine (LDD) test in detecting the viable ischemic LV area. STE with LDDSE was performed in 30 Iraqi patients (mean age 39-74 years, mean ejection fraction 45.8±7.96%) with previous MI (ischemia before more than 30 days ago) who were referred to Ibn Al-Bitar Specialized Center for Cardiac Surgery in Iraq-Baghdad for evaluation of LV myocardial function and viability and possible need for coronary angiography. There was significant change (improvement) in the GLS and EF after 3-6 months of doing PCI of the viable ischemic LV area in comparison to its value at rest (P-value < 0.001). Left anterior descending artery (LAD) is the most common affected artery in our study. The study concluded that GLS provides a sensitive measure of LV function and appears reduced despite preserved LVEF also GLS can detect the viability of ischemic myocardium of LV with using LDD test which then assessed by PCI.