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The feasibility of echocardiography in detecting left ventricle wall motion abnormalities, their location and their spontaneous or therapeutic regression, was assessed performing monodimensional and two-dimensional echocardiography in 35 patients with stable effort angina, without previous AMI. A control group of 10 normal subjects was also studied. The Authors evaluated echocardiographic findings on subjects at rest, during supine bicycle exercise and after sublingual nitroglycerin administration, defining the quality of wall motion as normal, hypokinetic, akinetic or dyskinetic in M-mode, and normal or asynergic in 2-D. They also analyzed, in M-mode, some echocardiographic indices of regional left ventricle function (IVSE, PWE, VIVS, VPW, delta TS, delta TP), and, in 2-D, the percent of systo-diastolic endocardial outline changes versus standard references in 7 sectors of left ventricle (anterior, lateral, inferior, septal in short-axis, septal, postero-lateral in long-axis, and apical) by means of a HP 9845B Computer, interfaced to a Digitizer. The percentage of feasibility of exercise echocardiography has been 60% in M-Mode, and 70% in 2-D. Mono and two-dimensional findings were normal in all patients at rest, whereas, during exercise, 57% of them, in M-mode, and 88% in 2-D, showed segmental contraction abnormalities. The Authors conclude that exercise echocardiography, though technically difficult, is feasible, Both M-mode and 2-D involve peculiar advantages or disadvantages. They provide, however, a valuable tool in detecting the mechanical consequences of exercise-induced regional myocardial ischemia and may be applicable in patients with equivocal exercise test.

9 patients with persistent truncus arteriosus, 11 patients with pseudotruncus and 2 patients with hemitruncus, ranging in age from 6 months to 29 years, have been studied by M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography (2-D echo). In all patients the diagnosis was confirmed by cardiac catheterization and angiocardiography; in 10 of them surgical or autopsy documentation was available. Peripheral contrast echocardiography was performed in 13 patients. A variable degree of truncal or aortic override was observed in 7 of 9 patients with truncus arteriosus and in all patients with pseudotruncus by M-mode or two-dimensional echocardiography. By 2-D echo the truncal origin of the right and left pulmonary arteries was visualized in 7 of 9 of the patients with truncus arteriosus. Visualization of one aberrant pulmonary artery from the aortic wall was assessed retrospectively in 2 patients with hemitruncus. A pulmonary atretic valve region was recorded in 10 of 11 of the patients with pseudotruncus. Peripheral contrast echocardiography enabled to distinguish patients with complete obstruction to pulmonary flow from patients with unobstructed right ventricular outflow tract. By showing no direct connection between the pulmonary arteries and the ascending aorta or direct continuity between one or both pulmonary arteries and truncal or aortic root, differentiation of pseudotruncus arteriosus from truncus or hemitruncus may be achieved by 2-D echo.