DOBUTAMINE ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY FOR PREDICTION OF ISCHEMIC EVENTS IN HEART-TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS

The purpose of this study was to assess the use of dobutamine stress e chocardiography in predicting cardiac events in heart transplant recip ients. Dobutamine echocardiography was performed in 63 consecutive hea rt transplant recipients, 52 males and 11 females ranging in age from 12 to 77 years (mean 54), undergoing routine yearly evaluation. Twenty -one patients had abnormal wall motion at baseline or during dobutamin e infusion. Over a mean follow-up of 8 months (range 4 to 14), there w ere six major cardiac events: five occurred among patients with abnorm al echocardiography study results; only one event occurred in a patien t with a normal echocardiography result. These data suggest that norma l wall motion during dobutamine echocardiography identifies a subset o f heart transplant recipients at low risk for development of cardiac e vents, whereas an abnormal study result serves as an important predict or of subsequent cardiac events. 390-3.