Diagnostic performance of dobutamine stress echocardiography: A South African experience

BACKGROUND. Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) is a well-established modality for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease, but there are no reported diagnostic data in southern Africa. OBJECTIVES. To compare the safety, sensitivity and specificity of a South African (SA) DSE programme with larger, international series. METHODS. All patients undergoing DSE from 2019 to 2021 at a single SA centre were included. A new wall motion abnormality (>2 segments) signified inducible ischaemia. RESULTS. A total of 106 patients (mean (standard deviation) age 61 (11) years, 68% male) were analysed. Six patients (6%) experienced chest pain during DSE and 4 (4%) developed an atrial arrhythmia. The sensitivity and specificity for epicardial coronary stenosis were 77% and 74%, respectively, changing to 82% and 72% when excluding those who had previous coronary artery bypass surgery. CONCLUSION. The sensitivity, specificity and safety of an SA DSE programme were comparable to international series. A DSE programme is feasible in a resource-constrained environment.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Scherman,L, Cilliers,C, Odendaal,D, Saaiman,J A, Heradien,M J, Dippenaar,A P, Swart,Y, Louw,J, Brink,P A, van der Bijll,P
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	South African Medical Association 2022
Online Access:	http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-95742022000600012
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