Dobutamine stress echocardiography for evaluating cirrhotic cardiomyopathy in liver cirrhosis.

Background/aims: The blunted ventricular systolic and diastolic contractile responses to physical and pharmacological stress in cirrhosis are termed cirrhotic cardiomyopathy (CCM). CCM has been known to involve multiple defects in the β-adrenergic signaling pathway. The aim of this study was to determine whether cirrhotic patients have blunted cardiac responses to catecholamine stimulation through dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE).