Dobutamine stress echocardiography prior to aortic surgery: Long-term cardiac outcome

This study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of dobutamine stress ech ocardiography (DSE) in predicting not only perioperative but also long-term cardiac events. One hundred fifty-nine patients who were evaluated for ele ctive abdominal aortic surgery were screened preoperatively with DSE from J anuary 1, 1992 to December 31, 1993. We concluded that DSE is useful for pr eoperative assessment of cardiac risk prior to elective aortic surgery to m inimize the need for cardiac intervention and still maintain acceptable per ioperative MI and death rates. A selective approach for coronary revascular ization is justified by the higher mortality in the subgroup requiring sequ ential procedures. DSE also allowed us to identify those high-risk patients who are best excluded from aortic surgery. Patients with abnormal DSE resu lts are at higher risk for late cardiac events, require cardiology follow-u p, and may require late coronary intervention.