Noninvasive assessment of left ventricular contractility by pacemaker stress echocardiography

1 . 1 Sensitivity of DE was 64%, specificity - 87%, positive predictive value - 72,7%, negative predictive value 87%.The reason for test termination was submaximal heart rate reached in 54(43,(%), maximal dobutamine and atropine dose reached in 10(8,1%), new wall motion abnormalities in 23(18,7%), side effects in 36(29,2%) and patient's wish in 1(0,8%). No dangerous complications such as infarction, ven- tricular fibrillation or death were observed. Conclusions: DE in pts with moderate AS is a valuable non-invasive method for studying LV contractility and coronary circulation. Pts can safely undergo DE. Al- though side effects occur more often than in pts diagnosed for CAD, they are mild and resolve without medical treatment. In pts with AS relatively high percentage of nondiagnostic DE tests was found.