Detection of patients with restenosis after PTCA by dipyridamole-atropine-stress-echocardiography.

Stress-echocardiography (SE) has been proven to be a valuable method for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. For patients who cannot exercise, pharmacological stress-echocardiography represents an alternative method for the induction of cardiovascular stress. Few studies exist concerning the value of dipyridamole-SE for the detection of restenosis in patients after primary successful PTCA. It has been demonstrated that the addition of atropine can significantly increase the diagnostic potential of dipyridamole-SE, especially in patients with 1- or 2-vessel disease. The purpose of our study was to investigate the diagnostic value of high-dose dipyridamole-SE plus atropine (DASE) for the detection of restenosis after primary successful PTCA. We investigated 65 patients 3-6 months after PTCA before a control angiography was performed. Restenosis was defined as > 70% lumen narrowing, determined by quantitative coronary angiography. In 20/27 patients with restenosis, the DASE was pathological (sensitivity 74%); in 34/38 patients without restenosis the DASE was normal or showed no induced WMA (specificity 89%). Patients with tight restenosis (> 90%) were always correctly detected by DASE. Concerning the different vessels, restenosis of the LAD was correctly predicted by DASE in 11/12 patients, restenosis of the LCX in 6/9 patients and restenosis of the RCA in 8/11 patients. From the results of our study we conclude that DASE is a reliable diagnostic method for the non-invasive evaluation of patients after PTCA. DASE can identify patients with relevant restenosis after PTCA and help to select those patients who will probably benefit from further coronary interventions, for repeat angiography.