Efficacy of post exercise pulsed wave tissue velocity imaging in diagnosing more than 70% coronary artery stenosis

Background: To evaluate efficacy of post exercise tissue velocity imaging in diagnosing more than 70% coronary artery stenosis. Method: Twenty patients with angiographically proved significant coronary artery disease and 26 healthy controls were evaluated. Pulsed wave tissue velocity imaging was performed at rest and immediately after treadmill stress test. Medial and lateral part of mitral annulus and medial and lateral part of tricuspid annulus were evaluated. Result: No change or reduction in systolic annular velocity after exercise at any of the four sites identified patients of significant coronary artery disease with 75% sensitivity and 73% specificity. Rise in the ratio of early diastolic inflow velocity to the corresponding early diastolic annular velocity above the identified site-specific cut-off value had sensitivity of 85% but specificity of 34.6%. A combination of no change or decrease in late diastolic annular velocity and no change or decrease in systolic annular velocity at any of the four sites had sensitivity of 75% and specificity of 88.46%. Conclusion: Post exercise tissue velocity imaging can provide a useful, objective parameter for detection of ischemic heart disease on stress testing