Incremental value of strain rate imaging to wall motion analysis for prediction of outcome in patients undergoing dobutamine stress echocardiography.

Background: Wall motion score at dobutamine stress echocardiography is an independent predictor of mortality. We sought to determine whether quantification of DSE by strain rate imaging was incremental to wall motion score for predicting outcome.

Methods And Results: In 646 patients undergoing dobutamine stress echocardiography for the evaluation of known or suspected coronary disease, customized software was used to automatically measure peak systolic strain rate (SR(s)) and end-systolic strain (S(es)) in 18 segments.

Prognostic value of intraventricular dyssynchrony according to clinical stage of left ventricular impairment.

Intraventricular dyssynchrony has prognostic implications in patients who have severe functional limitation and decreased ejection fraction. Patients with less advanced cardiac disease often exhibit intraventricular dyssynchrony, but there is little available information about its prognostic relevance in such patients. We investigated the prognostic effect of intraventricular dyssynchrony on outcome in 318 patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease who were classified according to the presence or absence of left ventricular dysfunction and heart failure symptoms.