Stress Echocardiography
The Stress Echocardiography chapter reviews the opportunities to increase sensitivity and specificity of stress testing for the diagnosis of ischemic heart disease with adjunctive echocardiography with exercise or dobutamine-atropine stress. Baseline imaging prior to stress should include a comprehensive evaluation of cardiac structure and function, including the assessment of valvular disease with Doppler echocardiography. The chapter discusses stress echocardiography protocols; image analysis and reporting; sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for detection of coronary artery disease; and evaluation of noncoronary cardiac disease. New and developing echocardiographic technology, including ultrasound assessment of myocardial perfusion, real-time 3D echocardiographic, and strain imaging are also discussed.