Predictive Echocardiography

In this thesis multiple echocardiographic approaches and techniques to predict clinical and functional outcome were evaluated. The value of high-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography for the prediction of longterm cardiac events was evaluated in various clinical settings in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. Low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging were used to evaluate myocardial viability and left ventricular remodelling in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy who underwent myocardial revascularization or percutaneous transplantation of skeletal myoblasts. The value of myocardial contrast echocardiography was studied to predict functional recovery in patients with acute myocardial infarction who underwent primary coronary intervention. Next, resting 2-D echocardiography was used to predict the onset of dilated-hypokinetic evolution and cardiovascular events in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Finally, the role of intracardiac echocardiography was investigated for prediction of the infarct area in patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who underwent percutaneous septal myocardial ablation.

• View at Worldcat

Free Full Text ( Final Version , 11mb )