Dobutamine stress echocardiography for assessment of cardiac risk before noncardiac surgery

Abstract

Two-dimensional echocardiography performed during incremental infusion of dobutamine has been shown to be a safe and accurate method for detection of coronary artery disease in patients who are unable to undergo conventional exercise testing. 1,2 A significant proportion of these patients are referred for evaluation before undergoing noncardiac surgery, such as abdominal aortic aneurysm resection, lower extremity revascularization procedures and hip replacement. Little is known about the value of dobutamine stress echocardiography for assessment of preoperative cardiac risk. This portable and relatively low cost technique provides rapid results and, thus, has potential advantages over alternative technologies, such as dipyridamole thallium scintigraphy, which have established prognostic value. 3–5 This retrospective study reports on the results of dobutamine stress echocardiography performed for preoperative cardiac risk assessment.