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Objective: Cardiovascular risk prediction is deemed fundamental and the assessment of organ damage is emerging as a potentially 'downstream' picture of individual risk. Our aim was to assess the feasibility and value of prediction of coronaropathy [coronary artery disease (CAD)] of integrated cardiovascular ultrasound examination., Methods: This multicenter study involved eight cardiology centers that enrolled 457 consecutive patients. Blood pressures, carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), carotid pulse wave velocity (cPWV), semiquantitative score of cardiac calcifications, global myocardial longitudinal strain (GLS), and rest Doppler flow velocity on the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery were measured. After coronary angiography, patients were divided in CAD, n = 273, at least one coronary stenosis higher than 50%, and no CAD, n = 184., Results: CAD were older (65.9 ± 10.7 versus 63.1 ± 11.2 years, mean ± standard deviation, P = 0.01), and had higher blood pressure (137.0 ± 18.8/77.5 ± 11.1 versus 130.2 ± 17.4/75.1 ± 9.7 mmHg, P < 0.02), cIMT (791.4 ± 165.5 versus 712.0 ± 141.5 mcm, P < 0.0001), cPWV (median: 9 versus 8.1 m/s, P < 0.01), score of calcium (median, 2 versus 1, P < 0.0001), LAD velocity (median, 38 versus 36, P < 0.07), and lower GLS (-17.6 ± 4.3 versus -19.3 ± 5.1, P < 0.05) than no CAD. Score of calcium was feasible in the totality of patients, cIMT in 97%, cPWV in 86%, GLS in 88%, and LAD in 84%. A combination of at least three variables was measurable in 80% of the patients. All ultrasound parameters significantly predicted CAD. However, in a stepwise logistic regression, the only combined predictors of obstructive CAD were score of calcium, cIMT, and LAD velocity., Conclusion: In Echo-Lab, Rome, Italy, the integrated cardiovascular ultrasound study is feasible in a high percentage of patients. The combination of three parameters, that is, score of calcium, cIMT, and LAD velocity, has incremental predictive value for obstructive CAD.

Objectives: The value of the echocardiographic calcium score (eCS) was evaluated to predict cardiac events in a multicenter cohort of subjects without known coronary disease, who underwent stress echocardiography (SE) for suspected coronary artery disease (CAD)., Background: Several studies have established that aortic valve sclerosis and/or calcification and mitral calcification, as detected by echocardiography, predict cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The use of a semiquantitative total cardiac calcium score (eCS) to assess aortic and mitral valves, papillary muscles, and the ascending aorta has never been tested in multicenter studies; the inherent subjectivity and clinical applicability of such a parameter remains a concern., Methods: We identified 1,303 patients from 5 Italian institutions and 1 U.S. institution, who had no known CAD and who underwent clinically-indicated pharmacological or exercise SE. They were followed up for myocardial infarction (MI) and all-cause death. eCS was assessed from archived images, and its discrimination and reclassification prognostic potential was determined., Results: Fifty-eight patients met the combined endpoint of all-cause death (n = 37; 2.8%) or MI (n = 21; 1.6%) during a median follow-up of 808 days. Age, diabetes mellitus, eCS >0, and ischemic SE were multivariate predictors of hard events. Kaplan-Meier curves demonstrated that patients with ischemic SE or eCS >0 had worse outcomes. When both variables were abnormal, the prognosis was worse (p < 0.001). The multivariate model demonstrated that both eCS and ischemic SE independently contributed to risk prediction more than clinical variables. Both wall motion during SE and eCS were able to significantly reclassify the risk of events, but only stress wall motion demonstrated an incremental discrimination value., Conclusions: eCS demonstrated significant prognostic value in predicting hard cardiac events in a multicenter population of patients who required noninvasive evaluation. Its value was independent from clinical assessment and wall motion during SE, although it did not show incremental value over these factors for discrimination of patients with and without events., (Copyright © 2015 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Myocardium subtended by obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) may show reduced left ventricle (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS), as well as early systolic lengthening (ESL) before shortening; these can be measured at rest and may predict obstructive CAD. This study investigated whether baseline resting LV longitudinal strain measurements may be able to detect significant CAD in patients undergoing stress echocardiography (SE) and coronary angiography, who have normal resting wall motion. We selected patients with a clinical indication of coronary angiography who were previously referred for SE. Patients with known CAD, rest wall-motion (WM) abnormalities, or rhythm/conduction abnormalities were excluded. Speckle tracking strain analyses were retrospectively performed on digitally archived 2D video-loops, using vendor independent software. Peak GLS and duration of ESL were recorded. Diagnostic accuracy of each parameter to predict obstructive (≥50%) CAD was assessed and multivariate logistic regression models fitted and compared. Eighty-two patients were enrolled and 49 had significant CAD by quantitative angiography. Patients with CAD were more often male (P=0.01) and more frequently presented with typical angina (P<0.01). Among rest and stress variables, GLS showed a Youden index of 0.665, while SE WM assessment showed a Youden index of 0.599. These were the only two parameters that remained predictive in multivariate analyses. In conclusion, rest GLS demonstrated comparable accuracy with stress-echo data for prediction of angiographically obstructive CAD; it also added significant CAD prediction when combined with clinical data, similar to SE WM assessment.

Background: To test the hypothesis that a semi-quantitative echocardiographic calcium score (eCS) significantly correlates with cardiac calcium measured by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and, secondarily, severe coronary artery calcifications and stenosis., Methods: This is a retrospective, observational study, conducted in a tertiary centre. eCS was compared with CCTA scores of non-coronary cardiac calcium (nCACS), coronary cardiac calcium (CACS) and number of diseased coronary vessels, in 141 subjects without known coronary artery disease (CAD), who underwent both echocardiography and CCTA for clinical reasons., Results: Age, prevalence of hypertension and all measures of calcium (eCS, nCACS and CACS) differed significantly between the no-CAD and CAD subgroups. eCS was positively correlated with nCACS (Spearman rho = 0.64, p < 0.0001), CACS (rho = 0.46, p < 0.01) and weakly with the number of diseased coronary vessels (rho = 0.28, p < 0.05). eCS and nCACS had similar area under the curve (AUC) for the prediction of severe CACS (≥400) (0.77, 95% CI 0.68-0.86 and 0.79, 95% CI 0.72-0.88) or obstructive CAD (0.63, 95% CI 0.54-0.72 and 0.63, 95% CI 0.55-0.73)., Conclusions: eCS, a calcium score easily obtainable during standard echocardiography, is moderately to strongly correlated with nCACS by CCTA. The full eCS score correlates with nCACS better than its single components. It correlates with CACS and predicts severe coronary calcification (CACS > 400), a known predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The eCS also predicts obstructive CAD, incrementally to age and clinical variables, although for this purpose CACS remains the most accurate score.

Unlabelled: A 52-year-old man presented after one episode of effort angina, normal treadmill electrocardiogram (ECG), and clearly positive adenosine cardiac magnetic resonance (aCMR) for reversible perfusion defects in the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery territory. Contrast high-dose dipyridamole (0.84 mg/kg per 6 min) stress echocardiography (cSE) demonstrated normal myocardial perfusion (MP) and wall motion at rest, while perfusion defects were shown in the lateral and apical segments after dipyridamole. Wall motion at stress was completely normal and stress/rest Doppler diastolic velocity ratio on the LAD demonstrated reduced flow reserve. In this case, cSE was the provocative test detecting both the LAD and circumflex obstructive lesions, thanks to MP analysis, while wall motion assessment was negative, not different from treadmill ECG, and aCMR highlighted only the LAD disease., Learning Points: In spite of the low sensitivity of wall motion assessment during stress-echocardiography to detect coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with multivessel disease and balanced ischemia, the addition of cSE with myocardial perfusion assessment, is not only able to overcome this limitation of false negative rate on a per-patient basis, but may also depict multivessel myocardial perfusion defects more efficiently than aCMR, as in the reported case, thanks to high spatial resolution.Myocardial perfusion assessment during cSE, although not always technically feasible, has a very high spatial and temporal resolution which can easily demonstrate multivessel subendocardial perfusion defects during maximal vasodilation, which is often the only detectable marker of multivessel, balanced CAD.It is known that wall motion analysis during pharmacologic stress may result in falsely negative multivessel disease; in these cases perfusion imaging or Doppler measurement of coronary flow reserve may be helpful to detect multivessel obstructive CAD, which is a significant and dismal prognostic finding. aCMR is assumed as the perfect imaging modality for CAD detection, but in selected cases, such as the one presented, an advanced echocardiographic method in experienced hands can provide even more comprehensive results.

Unlabelled: There are no studies analyzing the association between aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) and coronary artery disease (CAD) in a large and multicenter patient population with an overall low prevalence of CAD. We hypothesized that AVS could predict the presence and degree of CAD in patients with severe organic mitral regurgitation., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed consecutive patients with flail mitral leaflet who had coronary angiography for pre-surgical screening and not because suspect of CAD. End-points were considered: 1) any degree of CAD (stenosis>20%) and 2) obstructive CAD (stenosis>75% of at least one coronary artery). AVS was defined as focal areas of increased echogenicity and thickening of the leaflets. Traditional clinical risk factors were considered: age, male gender, hypertension (>140/90 mmHg or medical therapy), hypercholesterolemia (total cholesterol>200 mg/dl or statin), diabetes, family history of CAD and smoking habit., Results: 675 patients (mean age: 64±12; 27% female) formed the study population. Among patients with AVS, 60% and 39% had any-CAD and ob-CAD respectively, on the opposite among patients without AVS 12% and 7% had any-CAD and ob-cad. After adjustment for clinical risk factors, AVS was associated with a 22.7 fold increased risk of any degree of CAD (95% CI 8.1 63.6 p<0.0001) and with a 21.8 fold increased risk of obstructive-CAD (95% CI 6.6 71.9; p<0.0001)., Conclusion: In a large and multicenter sample of patient with flail mitral leaflet, AVS was strongly associated with the presence and degree of CAD independently of clinical risk factors., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: This study sought to determine whether the increasing difficulty of assessing wall motion (WM), Doppler coronary flow reserve on the left anterior descending coronary artery (CFR-LAD), and myocardial perfusion (MP) during stress echocardiography (SE) was justified by increasing prognostic information in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease., Background: The use of echocardiographic contrast agents during SE permits the assessment of both CFR-LAD and MP, but their relative incremental prognostic value is undefined., Methods: This study followed a multicenter cohort of 718 patients for 16 months after high-dose dipyridamole contrast SE for evaluation of known or suspected coronary artery disease. The ability of WM, CFR-LAD, and MP to predict cardiac events was studied by multivariable models and risk reclassification., Results: Abnormal SE was detected as a reversible WM abnormality in 18%, reversible MP defect in 27%, and CFR-LAD <2 in 38% of subjects. Fifty cardiac events occurred (annualized event rate 6.0%). A normal MP stress test had a 1-year hard event rate of 1.2%. The C-index of outcomes prediction based on clinical data was improved with MP (p < 0.001) and WM/CFR-LAD (p = 0.037), and MP (p = 0.003) added to clinical and WM data. Net risk reclassification was improved by adding MP (p < 0.001) or CFR-LAD (net reclassification improvement p = 0.001) in addition to clinical and WM data. The model including clinical data, WM/CFR-LAD, and MP performed better than that without MP did (p = 0.012)., Conclusions: The multiparametric assessment of WM, CFR-LAD and MP during stress testing in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease is feasible. Contrast SE allowed better prognostication, irrespective of the use of CFR-LAD or MP. The addition of either CFR-LAD or MP assessment to standard WM analysis and clinical parameters yielded progressively higher values for the prediction of cardiac events and may be required in today's intensively treated patients undergoing SE, because their average low risk of future cardiac events requires methods with higher predictive sensitivity than that available with standalone WM assessment., (Copyright © 2013 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The addition of myocardial perfusion (MP) imaging during dipyridamole real-time contrast echocardiography improves the sensitivity to detect coronary artery disease, but its prognostic value to predict hard cardiac events in large numbers of patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease remains unknown., Methods and Results: We studied 1252 patients with the use of dipyridamole real-time contrast echocardiography and followed them for a median of 25 months. The prognostic value of MP imaging regarding death and nonfatal myocardial infarction was determined and related to wall motion (WM), clinical risk factors, and rest ejection fraction by the use of Cox proportional-hazards models, C index, and risk reclassification analysis. A total of 59 hard events (4.7%) occurred during the follow-up (24 deaths, 35 myocardial infarctions). The 2-year event-free survival was 97.9% in patients with normal MP and WM, 91.9% with isolated reversible MP defects but normal WM, and 67.4% with both reversible MP and WM abnormalities (P<0.001). By multivariate analysis the independent predictors of events were age (hazard ratio 1.05, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.08), sex (hazard ratio, 2.36; 95% CI, 1.32-4.23), reversible MP defects (hazard ratio, 3.88; 95% CI, 1.83-8.21), and reversible WM abnormalities with reversible MP defects (hazard ratio, 4.51; 95% CI, 2.25-9.07). Reversible MP defects added incremental predictive value and reclassification benefit over WM response and clinical factors (P=0.001)., Conclusions: MP imaging using real-time perfusion echocardiography during dipyridamole real-time contrast echocardiography provides independent, incremental prognostic information regarding hard cardiac events in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. Patients with normal MP responses have better outcome than patients with normal WM; patients with both reversible WM and MP abnormalities have the worst outcome.

Background: An important goal of noninvasive stress testing is the identification of patients with left main coronary artery or three-vessel disease, because coronary artery disease extension and severity are major prognostic factors in ischemic heart disease. Wall motion abnormalities during vasodilator stress echocardiography become apparent in more than one coronary territory only in a small number of patients with multivessel disease. The aim of this study was to assess the value of change in left ventricular ejection fraction change (ΔLVEF) to identify patients with multivessel obstructive coronary artery disease during dipyridamole stress echocardiography., Methods: All dipyridamole stress echocardiographic studies performed at the authors' institution from October 2007 through March 2010 were retrospectively reviewed, and 150 patients who underwent coronary angiography within the next 60 days were selected. Left ventricular end-diastolic volume and end-systolic volume were measured at baseline and at the end of high-dose dipyridamole; ΔLVEF was calculated as stress ejection fraction minus rest ejection fraction. Patients were divided into four groups (controls and patients with single-vessel, two-vessel, and three-vessel disease) on the basis of coronary angiographic results., Results: The mean LVEF increased significantly from rest to peak stress in all groups except the three-vessel disease group. Mean ΔLVEF was negative in patients with three-vessel or left main coronary artery disease (-2.8 ± 5.1%) and significantly lower compared with all other angiographic groups (10.2 ± 5.1% and 6.2 ± 4.1%, respectively, for single-vessel and two-vessel disease). The negative value of ΔLVEF for three-vessel disease was due mainly to increased end-systolic volume at peak stress. Receiver operating characteristic curves demonstrated excellent accuracy of ΔLVEF compared with change in wall motion score index in identifying patients with multivessel disease, with areas under the curves of 0.96 and 0.62, respectively., Conclusions: ΔLVEF is significantly lower in patients with severe coronary artery disease compared with those with single-vessel or two-vessel disease; reduced ΔLVEF identifies high-risk patients, who are likely to benefit from a more aggressive therapeutic strategy., (Copyright © 2012 American Society of Echocardiography. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: No large study has demonstrated that any stress test can risk-stratify future hard cardiac events (cardiac death or myocardial infarction) in patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes (ACS), nondiagnostic electrocardiographic (ECG) findings, and normal troponin levels. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that combined contrast wall motion and myocardial perfusion echocardiographic assessment (cMCE) during stress echocardiography can predict long-term hard cardiac events in patients with suspected ACS, nondiagnostic ECG findings, and normal troponin., Methods: A total of 545 patients referred for contrast stress echocardiography from the emergency department for suspected ACS but nondiagnostic ECG findings and normal troponin levels at 12 hours were followed up for cardiac events. Patients underwent dipyridamole-atropine echocardiography with adjunctive myocardial perfusion imaging using a commercially available ultrasound contrast medium (SonoVue)., Results: During a median follow-up period of 12 months, 25 cardiac events (4.6%) occurred (no deaths, 12 nonfatal myocardial infarctions, 13 episodes of unstable angina). Abnormal findings on cMCE were the most significant predictor of both hard cardiac events (hazard ratio, 22.8; 95% confidence interval, 2.9-176.7) and the combined (cardiac death, myocardial infarction, or unstable angina requiring revascularization) end point (hazard ratio, 10.7; 95% confidence interval, 3.7-31.3). The inclusion of the cMCE variable significantly improved multivariate models, determining lower Akaike information criterion values and higher discrimination ability., Conclusions: cMCE during contrast stress echocardiography provided independent information for predicting hard and combined cardiac events beyond that predicted by stress wall motion abnormalities in patients with suspected ACS, nondiagnostic ECG findings, and normal troponin levels., (Copyright © 2011 American Society of Echocardiography. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.)

In this review we will clarify some key technical aspects of myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) but we will mostly address its potential clinical application during stress-echocardiography in today's cardiology practice, according to the literature and to the author's view. MCE is a bedside technique, it is cheap and has a very high diagnostic accuracy and safety. Nonetheless MCE use remains confined to the few echolabs which pioneered and developed the technique: Why is that? We here suggest a number of potential explanations for this research/clinical practice "mismatch", and how to overcome it, putting MCE in its proper cardinal role among diagnostic methods in cardiology.

We reviewed patients with normal or near-normal coronary angiograms enrolled in the SPAM contrast stress echocardiographic diagnostic study in which 400 patients with chest pain syndrome of suspected cardiac origin with a clinical indication to coronary angiography were enrolled. Patients underwent dipyridamole contrast stress echocardiography (cSE) with sequential analysis of wall motion, myocardial perfusion, and Doppler coronary flow reserve before elective coronary angiography. Ninety-six patients with normal or near-normal epicardial coronary arteries were screened for the presence of 2 prespecified findings: severely tortuous coronary arteries and myocardial bridging. Patients were divided in 2 groups based on the presence (false-positive results, n = 37) or absence (true-negative results, n = 59) of reversible myocardial perfusion defects during cSE and compared for history and clinical and angiographic characteristics. Prevalence of severely tortuous coronary arteries (35% vs 5%, p <0.001) or myocardial bridging (13% vs 2%, p <0.05) was 7 times higher in patients who demonstrated reversible perfusion defects at cSE compared to those without reversible perfusion defects. No significant differences were found between the 2 groups for the main demographic variables and risk factors. Patients in the false-positive group more frequently had a history of effort angina (p <0.001) and ST-segment depression at treadmill electrocardiography (p <0.001). In conclusion, we hypothesize that patients with a positive myocardial perfusion finding at cSE but without obstructive epicardial coronary artery disease have a decreased myocardial blood flow reserve, which may be caused by a spectrum of causes other than obstructive coronary artery disease, among which severely tortuous coronary arteries/myocardial bridging may play a significant role., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The evaluation of patients presenting to the hospital with a recent episode of chest pain suggestive of myocardial ischemia, nondiagnostic electrocardiographic findings, and normal 12-hour cardiac troponin levels remains a challenge for the clinician. We selected 1,081 consecutive patients who presented to the emergency department during 2008 for a chest pain complaint of suspected cardiac origin without significant electrocardiographic abnormalities or troponin elevation. These patients underwent either contrast-enhanced stress-echocardiography with myocardial perfusion imaging or exercise-electrocardiography within 5 days of the index admission. We analyzed their 1-year cardiac outcome (i.e., unstable angina, myocardial infarction, or cardiac death). A post test likelihood of cardiac events was determined on the basis of the results of the provocative testing. Significantly better event-free survival (log-rank p <0.0001) was found for both hard (cardiac death and nonfatal myocardial infarction) and combined (acute coronary syndrome) end points in patients with normal contrast-enhanced stress-echocardiographic findings. However, this was not the case for patients in the exercise-electrocardiographic group, for whom event-free survival was not significantly different among the 3 possible result categories (normal, indeterminate, and abnormal test findings; log-rank p = NS). In conclusion, inducible ischemia detected by contrast-enhanced stress-echocardiography predicted the 1-year incidence of acute coronary syndrome (11.3% for positive vs 0.8% for negative results). However, this was not the case for exercise-electrocardiography, with a 2.7%, 2.3%, and 2.9% 1-year incidence of acute coronary syndromes for positive, negative, and indeterminate results, respectively., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Wall motion (WM), Doppler-derived measurement of the coronary flow reserve (CFR) in the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD), and myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) can be sequentially assessed during dipyridamole stress echocardiography. Data regarding the relative diagnostic value of each of these parameters when assessed during the same examination in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) are lacking., Methods: Dipyridamole stress echocardiography was performed in 400 patients at two centers, before the performance of clinically indicated coronary angiography. The diagnostic accuracy of WM, CFR-LAD, combined WM and CFR-LAD, and MPI was measured in comparison with quantitative angiographic results., Results: For CAD defined as ≥ 1 stenosis >50%, MPI had the highest sensitivity (96%), lowest specificity (66%), and highest accuracy (86%); WM and CFR-LAD had the highest specificities (85% and 80%), lowest sensitivities (63% and 66%), and lowest overall accuracies (70% and 71%). Combined WM and CFR-LAD obtained intermediate values for both sensitivity (84%) and specificity (71%) and the second best accuracy (80%). For CAD defined as >70% stenosis, MPI, combined WM and CFR-LAD, and WM obtained similar accuracies (P = NS), but WM showed the best balance of sensitivity (73%) and specificity (73%), with the highest Youden index., Conclusions: MPI had the highest sensitivity and accuracy for the detection of CAD > 50% during dipyridamole stress echocardiography, despite showing the lowest specificity among tested parameters. Standalone WM and combined WM and CFR-LAD were not significantly inferior in terms of overall accuracy when CAD > 70% was the diagnostic end point. The addition of MPI or CFR-LAD to standard WM assessment allows the detection of milder CAD., (Copyright © 2010 American Society of Echocardiography. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The inappropriate admission of patients with noncardiac chest pain is an enormous cost to society. Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) could prove effective in the risk stratification of patients in whom acute coronary syndromes are ruled out by electrocardiography and troponin levels, thanks to its incremental sensitivity beyond that of wall motion (WM) criteria for obstructive coronary artery disease, and still maintain the excellent safety profile of dipyridamole-atropine stress echocardiography (DASE). The aim of this study was to test this hypothesis using WM and MPI (WM + MPI) in consecutive patients admitted to a chest pain unit., Methods: Patients presenting to a chest pain unit between January and June 2008 with chest pain and in whom acute coronary syndromes had been ruled out by normal electrocardiography and cardiac enzyme levels underwent DASE with the addition of contrast MPI. Four hundred consecutive patients were enrolled., Results: WM + MPI resulted in 71 true-positive findings, compared with 46 by stand-alone WM (P < .05).True-positive results accounted for 46 of 50 positive test results for WM and 71 of 82 positive test results for WM + MPI (positive predictive value, 92% vs 87%; P = NS). In the subset of patients who underwent angiography (n = 116), the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for WM compared with WM + MPI were 63% versus 97% (P < .05), 91% versus 74% (P < .05), and 73% versus 89% (P < .05)., Conclusions: The addition of MPI to standard DASE increased true-positive test results by >50% compared with WM criteria, with a nonsignificant difference in positive predictive value. Twenty-five patients were diagnosed with obstructive coronary artery disease thanks only to isolated MPI abnormalities; the cardiac origin of their chest pain would have been mistakenly "ruled out" on the basis of the absence of WM abnormalities.

An apparently healthy young adult was referred for echocardiography because of a cardiac 2/6 diastolic murmur, heard during physical examination in the context of our competitive sports screening program.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate the clinical agreement between myocardial performance index (MPI) measured conventionally and by pulsed-wave tissue Doppler (PW-TD) of the mitral annulus, and to test whether PW-TD MPI can accurately differentiate between healthy subjects and patients affected by congestive heart failure (CHF) with mild to moderate reduction of systolic function., Background: Calculation of MPI using PW-TD may have advantages over conventional left ventricle inflow/outflow tract pulsed-wave Doppler (PWD) method; for example, all of the data needed for PW-TD MPI calculation can be derived from one single cardiac cycle, whereas with PWD at least two different cycles are needed. Thus, heart rate variability does not interfere with PW-TD MPI., Methods and Results: In group A, we included 70 healthy adults with normal left ventricular ejection fraction and normal diastole, whereas for group B we studied 50 patients with CHF and left ventricular ejection fraction between 35% and 45%. MPI measured with PWD was statistically different (P < .0001) from MPI measured with PW-TD both in group A (0.33 +/- 0.09 vs 0.42 +/- 0.09) and group B (0.69 +/- 0.15 vs 0.79 +/- 0.12). Nonetheless, clinical agreement existed between the two methods in the single subject. Receiver operating characteristic curves showed very high accuracy for both methods to discriminate patients with CHF from healthy subjects; the optimal cutoff point was different and specific to each method: 0.50 for the conventional method and 0.60 for the PW-TD method., Conclusion: We found clinical agreement between MPI measured in the same subject with the conventional PWD method and with PW-TD. Both methods had similarly high diagnostic accuracy for CHF, but this study supports the use of a higher MPI cut-point for best diagnostic accuracy when using the new PW-TD method., Summary: We performed a study in healthy adults and in patients with congestive heart failure to investigate the clinical agreement between MPI measured conventionally and by PW-TD of the mitral annulus. We found mild agreement between MPI measured by the conventional method and by PW-TD. Both methods had high diagnostic accuracy for CHF. PW-TD method requires a higher MPI cut-point for best diagnostic accuracy.

Background: Normal coronary arteries may coexist with abnormal coronary and systemic endothelial function in patients with chest pain. Recent work by the renowned Pisa echo-group elegantly suggests that isolated ST-segment depression during stress-echo (SE) can be used as a marker of coronary endothelial dysfunction, in the absence of stress-inducible wall motion abnormalities and in the absence of angiographically-significant coronary artery disease (CAD). The long chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been reported to possess several properties that may positively influence vascular function. The present study's hypothesis is that a 4 month-course of oral supplementation with n-3 PUFAs can reverse endothelial dysfunction., Methods: Subjects were selected on the basis of the following criteria: 1) reported chest pain syndrome, 2) significant ST-segment depression during an otherwise normal SE, 3) absence of angiographically-significant CAD. Subjects underwent a 4-month course of oral supplementation with commercially available n-3 PUFA, 1 g once a day. Normalization of endothelial dysfunction was defined, at the end of the supplementation period, by the absence of significant ST-segment depression during repeat SE. We tested the aforementioned hypothesis in a very small series of consecutive subjects, with the intent to produce a hypothesis-generating study., Results: Seven out of the total nine subjects enrolled (77.8%) had normal ST-segment during repeat SE performed after the 4 month course of therapy., Conclusions: A striking rate of reversion of SE-induced ST-segment depression after oral n-3 PUFAs suggests reversion of coronary endothelial dysfunction; nonetheless these data need to be validated in larger, placebo-controlled studies.

Background: Previous work showed a strong inverse association between 1-min heart rate recovery (HRR) after exercising on a treadmill and all-cause mortality. The aim of this study was to determine whether the results could be replicated in a wide population of real-world exercise ECG candidates in our center, using a standard bicycle exercise test., Methods: Between 1991 and 1997, 1420 consecutive patients underwent ECG exercise testing performed according to our standard cycloergometer protocol. Three pre-specified cut-point values of 1-min HRR, derived from previous studies in the medical literature, were tested to see whether they could identify a higher-risk group for all-cause mortality; furthermore, we tested the possible association between 1-min HRR as a continuous variable and mortality using logistic regression., Results: Both methods showed a lack of a statistically significant association between 1-min HRR and all-cause mortality. A weak trend toward an inverse association, although not statistically significant, could not be excluded., Conclusions: We could not validate the clear-cut results from some previous studies performed using the treadmill exercise test. The results in our study may only "not exclude" a mild inverse association between 1-min HRR measured after cycloergometer exercise testing and all-cause mortality. The 1-min HRR measured after cycloergometer exercise testing was not clinically useful as a prognostic marker.

In contrast with transthoracic echocardiography, transesophageal echocardiography provides a sure way to make the diagnosis of sinus venosus atrial septal defect; on the other hand this abnormality is more complex than that seen with the secundum atrial septal defect, and inexperienced operators may fail to recognize properly the defect. In front of a high reported sensitivity using transesophageal echocardiography, specificity is difficult to assess, due to possible underreporting of diagnostic errors. We describe a false positive diagnosis of sinus venosus atrial septal defect, in the setting of enlarged right chambers of the heart because of pressure overload. Modified anatomy of the heart, together with the presence of a prominent linear structure(probably Eustachian Valve) and an incomplete examination in this case made image interpretation very prone to misinterpretation. In this anatomical setting transesophageal longitudinal "bicaval" view may be sub-optimal for examining the atrial septum, potentially showing false images that need to be known for correct image interpretation. Nonetheless, a scan plane taken more accurately at the superior level would have demonstrated/excluded the pathognomonic feature of sinus venosus atrial septal defect in the high atrial septum, between the fatty limbus and the inferior aspect of the right pulmonary artery; moreover TEE allows morphological information about the posterior structures of the heart that need to be investigated in detail for a complete diagnosis.

The roots and seeds of the aconite (Aconitum napellus) contain alkaloids with modulatory activity on the sodium voltage-dependent channels; most fatal cases have been determined by ventricular tachycardia and respiratory paralysis. The only established treatment is supportive. We report a case of poisoning from Aconitum napellus, ingested by a husband and wife who thought the plant was "mountain chicory". They both had tachyarrhythmias, but the husband had more malignant episodes of hemodynamically unstable wide QRS tachycardia and respiratory paralysis requiring mechanical ventilation.