Boudewijn J Krenning

..We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced stress RT3DE for the detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) in comparison with coronary arteriography as the reference technique...

..New technical improvements, such as automated endocardial border detection and contrast enhancement, will make accurate on-line assessment with little operator interaction possible in the near future...

..In conclusion, contrast agent-enhanced RT3DE is more accurate in assessment of LV function as evidenced by better correlation and narrower limits of agreement compared with MRI, as well as lower intra- and interobserver variabilities...

..These studies are hampered by a low accuracy of measurements because of geometric assumptions regarding LV shape. Three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) overcomes this limitation...

..To compare the interobserver variability and accuracy of two different real time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) analyzing programs...

..2-6.0) in a multivariable model. CONCLUSION: Myocardial ischemia during pacemaker stress echocardiography is an independent predictor of cardiac death and all-cause mortality in patients with a permanent pacemaker...

..In conclusion, during stress RT3DE, contrast-enhanced imaging significantly decreases the number of poorly visualized myocardial segments and improves interobserver agreement for the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia...

..We evaluated two different commercially available real-time 3-dimensional echocardiographic semiautomated border detection algorithms for left ventricular (LV) volume analysis in patients with cardiomyopathy and distorted LV geometry...

..98), and LV ejection fraction (r = 0.94). CONCLUSION: RT-3DE is feasible for volumetric analysis of the abnormal LV allowing accurate determination of LV volume and ejection fraction compared with MRI in adult patients with CHD...

..Patients with severely depressed LV function and a low QT dispersion probably have a substantial amount of viable tissue. Conversely, when QT dispersion is high, the likelihood of substantial viability is reduced...

..Aim of the study: To investigate whether this 3D analysis tool could improve interobserver agreement on myocardial ischemia during 3D DSE...

..A superior early diastolic filling at rest can also differentiate viable from nonviable myocardium...

..The presence of an abnormal dobutamine stress echocardiography was the strongest predictor of cardiac events and provided incremental prognostic information to clinical and stress test data...

..13; 95% CI, 1.12-1.16), and ischemia (HR 2.1; 95% CI, 1.5-2.8). CONCLUSION: DSE provides independent prognostic information to predict all-cause mortality and hard cardiac events in elderly patients...

..93; y = 0.69x + 13.36; SEE = 2.4%). Inter- and intraobserver agreement for all measurements was good. The fast-rotating transducer with new ABD software is a dedicated tool for rapid and accurate analysis of LV volume and function...

..CONCLUSION: 3D echocardiography with appropriate analytic software allows detection of the most delayed LV contracting segment and can be used to select the optimal pacing site during resynchronization therapy...

..In patients with normal DSE, gender is independently associated with cardiac events. The outcome of patients with abnormal DSE is not related to gender, after adjusting for stress echocardiographic abnormalities...

..The present study sought to assess the value of real-time three-dimensional echocardiography for the assessment of true mitral annulus diameter (MAD)...

..The usefulness of this method with stress protocols has been confirmed. The aim of the present review is to demonstrate advantages of this new promising method showing recent technological limitations as well...

..The aim of this study was to assess their influence on the diagnostic accuracy of dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE)...

..This association is observed in patients who have proved coronary artery disease and in patients who have no history of coronary artery disease...

..Our findings indicate a favorable effect of atorvastatin on contractile reserve, possibly through an enhancement of flow-dependent coronary dilatation during stress...

..The purpose of this study was to investigate the beneficial role of parasternal-acquired images in addition to apical-acquired images during contrast stress RT3DE...

..The capabilities of the FRU-transducer are illustrated with in-vitro volume measurements, harmonic imaging in combination with a contrast agent, and a preliminary clinical study...

..Our initial results suggest that fast reconstruction of the LV is feasible for the selection of the optimal pacing site and allows identifying LV segments with dyssynchrony...

..Considering the diagnostic problems of exercise electrocardiography and nuclear scintigraphy in women, stress echocardiography may be the stress modality of choice in women because of its superior diagnostic specificity...

..Further follow-up studies are needed to examine arterial elasticity using other methods in this patient population, and to detect possible effects of enzyme replacement therapy...

..CONCLUSION: Methodological problems may explain the wide range in diagnostic variability of DSE. An improvement of clinical relevance of DSE testing is possible by stronger adherence to common and new methodological standards...

..The mass of an abnormally shaped left ventricle can be determined with high accuracy and low interobserver variability in patients with good or moderate echocardiographic image quality...

..The clinical results showed the ability of contrast SH imaging in differentiating low and normal perfusion areas, demonstrating the high sensitivity and specificity of the technique...

..Echocardiography with color Doppler flow imaging is currently the diagnostic modality of choice. In this study, the usefulness of contrast echocardiography to diagnose LVNC was examined, and the diagnostic criteria were evaluated...

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..By selecting the correctly oriented image set, this number can even be brought down to 4, which will further reduce the analysis time...

..CONCLUSION: Serious cardiac arrhythmias occur frequently during both low-dose and high-dose DSE in patients with AS. Adverse side effects do not relate to stress-induced ischemia or atropine addition...

..We sought to assess mitral annular (MA) size and function in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) using real-time 3-dimensional (3D) echocardiography (RT3DE)...