Effect of prior myocardial infarction and extent and location of coronary disease on accuracy of exercise echocardiography.

Exercise echocardiography is an emerging technique for the evaluation of patients with suspected coronary artery disease. In this study, rest and immediate postexercise echocardiograms were performed in 123 patients who were stratified on the basis of prior myocardial infarction and the number and location of coronary artery stenoses at cardiac catheterization. The location of wall motion abnormalities on rest and postexercise studies was correlated with the location of coronary artery stenoses. The sensitivity of exercise echocardiography for detecting coronary artery disease in patients with multivessel disease was 97% in those with and 86% in those without prior infarction. The corresponding sensitivity for patients with single vessel disease was 100% and 72%, respectively. Multivessel disease was present in 59 patients, but specifically identified as such in only 32 (54%). Normal rest and exercise echocardiograms were seen in 12 patients with coronary artery disease, 8 of whom had single vessel disease. It is concluded that the subjective analysis of the exercise echocardiogram accurately identifies the majority of patients with coronary artery disease. Its sensitivity is greatest in those with multivessel coronary disease. It is limited in those with single vessel coronary disease and in accurately identifying the subset of patients with multivessel disease.