[Stress echocardiography versus scintigraphy in evaluating coronary heart disease: stress echocardiography is superior].

Stress echocardiography has evolved as a routinely employed non-invasive method for the evaluation of patients with coronary artery disease. The diagnostic accuracy of stress echocardiography for the detection of myocardial ischemia is comparable to scintigraphic myocardial perfusion imaging, and may even have a higher specificity for the evaluation of myocardial viability. User-friendliness including patient and investigator safety, availability and mobility of the method, and environmental compatibility, is superior to that of scintigraphy. The potential for future developments, especially in the field of digital imaging and telecommunication, is great. Last but not least, echocardiography is the method most familiar to cardiologists. The sum of these arguments renders stress echocardiography the superior method to scintigraphy in the evaluation of patients with coronary artery disease.