Raj S. Ballal

Usefulness and limitations of transesophageal echocardiography in the assessment of proximal coronary artery stenosis

To assess the usefulness of transesophageal echocardiography in the evaluation of proximal coronary artery stenosis, 111 consecutive patients (mean age 61 years) who had intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography and coronary angiography within 1 week of surgery were studied. Transesophageal echocardiography visualized the entire length of the left main artery (0.2 to 2.2 cm, mean 0.93), 0.2 to 2.2 cm of the proximal left anterior descending artery and 0.1 to 3.4 cm of the proximal left circumflex artery in 103 patients (93%) and 0.1 to 4.6 cm of the proximal right coronary artery in 55 patients (49%). In the coronary artery segments visualized by echocardiography and compared with the corresponding angiographic segments, transesophageal echocardiography correctly identified 23 (96%) of 24 left main stenoses, 11 (78%) of 14 stenoses involving the left anterior descending artery, 6 (75%) of 8 left circumflex stenoses and all 7 stenoses (100%) of the right coronary artery. In all seven patients with ostial stenosis (left main artery in five and right coronary artery in two), the condition was correctly diagnosed by this technique. The sensitivity and specificity of transesophageal echocardiography in the overall evaluation of proximal coronary artery stenosis as customarily defined by angiography were 96% and 99% for the left main artery, 48% and 99% for the left anterior descending artery, 67% and 100% for the left circumflex artery and 37% and 100% for the right coronary artery, respectively. The distance of the stenotic lesion from the origin of the vessel by transesophageal echocardiography also correlated well with that measured by angiography (r = 0.63 to 0.99).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Outcomes and cost implications of a clinical-based algorithm to guide the discriminate use of stress imaging before noncardiac surgery

Approximately 8 million patients at risk for coronary artery disease undergo noncardiac surgery annually in the United States. This study defined the appropriateness and cost of evaluating these patients with stress imaging tests. Before noncardiac surgery, 178 consecutive patients were prospectively studied by stress imaging. Pretest cardiac risk (low, intermediate, high) was established by interviewing the referring physician and separately by a cardiologist on the basis of the nature of noncardiac surgery and Eagles clinical criteria. Patients were followed-up for alterations in management and perioperative events until hospital discharge. Referring physicians and cardiologists identified low risk in 24% and 54% of patients, respectively (p < 0.0001). Of 96 patients identified as low risk by cardiologists, 75 had minor surgery and 21 had major surgery, but no clinical risk factors. In the remaining 82 patients with major surgery, ischemia and other severe abnormalities were detected in 19 (23%) patients. At follow-up, no perioperative complications occurred in minor surgery; one patient with major surgery but no clinical risk factors died from complications related to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Patients with at least one clinical risk factor undergoing major surgery but who did not have ischemia on stress testing (n = 63) had two complications (infarction and unstable angina). Intervention (revascularization and surgical cancellation) was probably the explanation for the absence of events in 19 patients with ischemia. With a weighted mean Medicare reimbursement (

Cardiac Outcomes in Coronary Patients With Submaximum Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography

386), the use of a simple selection algorithm based on noncardiac surgery and clinical risk to avoid testing low-risk patients would have an average cost of

Prognosis of patients with vascular disease after clinical evaluation and dobutamine stress echocardiography.

214 per patient, representing a 45% savings.

Echocardiographic score as a predictor of in-hospital cost in patients undergoing percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty

This study evaluated the prediction of cardiac events (cardiac death, myocardial infarction, unstable angina, or late myocardial revascularization) in patients with submaximum responses to dobutamine stress, defined by attainment of <85% age-predicted heart rate. Of 1,772 patients undergoing dobutamine echocardiography over a 2-year period, 425 had a submaximum heart rate response. After exclusion of patients treated with beta-adrenoceptor blocking agents, 255 patients formed the study group. In these patients, the test was terminated after administration of the maximum dose of 40 microg/kg/min of dobutamine with atropine (end of protocol, n = 186), severe angina, ischemic ST-segment changes, or intolerable side effects (n = 69). Dobutamine-induced changes (ischemia, viability, or both) were detected in 46 patients, involving ischemia in 133 segments, viability in 23, and ischemia and viability in 16 segments. Patients were followed for an interval of 28 +/- 17 months; 5 (1.2%) were lost to follow-up. Of the medically treated patients, cardiac events occurred in 73 of 228 (31%), including cardiac death in 25 (11%), nonfatal myocardial infarction in 11 (4.8%), severe unstable angina in 35 (15%), and late revascularization in 2 (0.9%). Cardiac events occurred in 11 of 30 (36%) with inducible abnormalities, and 62 of 198 without inducible abnormalities (31%, p = NS). Thus, cardiac event rates are high in patients with inadequate chronotropic responses to dobutamine stress, irrespective of whether stress-induced changes are detected. A negative dobutamine echocardiogram at submaximum heart rate should be considered nondiagnostic.

TRAINING IN CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION AT HIGH-VOLUME AND LOW-VOLUME CENTERS : IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IN CASE MIX ?

BACKGROUND Coronary disease is an important cause of long-term morbidity in patients needing major vascular surgery. We sought to assess the efficacy of preoperative clinical evaluation and the detection of inducible ischemia for prediction of immediate and long-term cardiac outcomes of patients undergoing vascular surgery. METHODS In 233 patients undergoing vascular procedures, we assessed risk clinically on the basis of Eagles criteria. Dobutamine echocardiography was performed with a standard protocol and results were classified as showing ischemia, scar, or a normal response. Patients were observed perioperatively, and late follow-up (28 +/- 13 months) was completed in all surgical survivors. A composite end point of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and unstable and progressive angina requiring late revascularization was used to judge event-free survival. RESULTS Of 233 patients undergoing preoperative dobutamine echocardiography, 39 (17%) had inducible ischemia and 36 (15%) had scar. Perioperative events occurred in 8 patients (3%). None of the patients with ischemia had perioperative events, reflecting the effect of revascularization in 9 patients. Late events occurred in 36 patients; ischemia on preoperative stress testing was a predictor of these events even after adjusting for clinical variables and left ventricular dysfunction (relative risk = 3.3; 95% confidence interval 1.6 to 6.8; P =.001). The association of ischemia with clinical predictors was associated with incrementally worse outcome. CONCLUSION In addition to perioperative assessment, the combined use of clinical and dobutamine echocardiographic evaluation may stratify the risk of late cardiac events.

Homocysteine: update on a new risk factor.

Percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty (PBMV) is an effective means of palliating mitral stenosis, but it sometimes leads to adverse clinical outcomes and exorbitant in-hospital costs. Because echocardiographic score is known to be predictive of clinical outcome in patients undergoing PBMV, we examined whether it could also be used to predict in-hospital cost. Preprocedure echocardiographic scores, baseline clinical characteristics, and total in-hospital costs were examined among 45 patients who underwent PBMV between January 1, 1992, and January 1, 1994. Patients ranged in age from 18 to 71 years and had preprocedure echocardiographic scores that ranged from 4 to 12. Following PBMV, mean mitral valve area increased from 1.1 +/- 0.3 to 2.4 +/- 0.6 cm2 (p = 0.0001), and mean pressure gradient decreased from 18.3 +/- 5.9 to 6.7 +/- 2.7 mm Hg (p = 0.0001). In-hospital cost for the 45 patients ranged from

Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiographic diagnosis of left atrial pseudoaneurysm

3,591 to

Transesophageal color Doppler echocardiography in assessing proximal coronary artery stenosis

70,975 (mean

Assessment of aortic regurgitation severity by transesophageal color Doppler echocardiography

9,417; median