Contractile reserve of valvular heart diseases echocardiographically evaluated by epinephrine loading before and after cardiac surgery.

72 patients (59 with acquired valvular heart disease and 13 with atrial septal defect) undergoing cardiac surgery

Echocardiographic evaluation with epinephrine loading (1 or 2 microgram/min)

Baseline (pre-loading) echocardiographic evaluation

Cardiac contractile reserve (measured by left ventricular posterior wall excursion [PWE] and mean left ventricular posterior wall velocity [mPWV]) and prediction of postoperative severe cardiac failuresurrogate