Significance of low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography for the prediction of the long-term prognosis for patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Objectives: Detection of stunned myocardium using low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography is a good predictor of improvement of cardiac function in patients with acute myocardial infarction during short hospital stays. The present study evaluated the detection of stunned myocardium as a predictor of the long-term prognosis for patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Methods: One hundred and two patients (83 males, 19 females, mean age 61.