Relationship Between Post-Systolic Motion During Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography and Functional Recovery of Myocardium After Successful Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Doppler myocardial imaging (DMI) has been suggested as a method of quantifying inducible ischemia during dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE). Post-systolic motion (PSM) detected by DMI is related to peri-infarct ischemia during DSE. We hypothesized that PSM during DSE would predict recovery of dysfunctional myocardium after successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Thirty patients with dysfunctional myocardium in the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) territory were divided into two groups according to improvement of wall motion score index (WMSI) in the LAD territory at 6 months after successful PCI of the LAD. DMI was evaluated in the LAD territory during DSE. Fifteen patients showed improved WMSI (1.42+/-0.39) while the other 15 had unchanged WMSI (1.75+/-0.46) 1 month after PCI. Myocardial velocity was measured in the mid-septal, apico-septal, and basal anterior segments of the LAD artery territory. PSM was defined as a positive wave appearing after the curve of systolic ejection had reached the zero line. RESULTS: Although there was no difference between resting PSMs in both groups, PSM during DSE was significantly higher in the improved WMSI group than in the WMSI group where it was unchanged. CONCLUSION: PSM during DSE predicts recovery of dysfunctional myocardium after successful PCI.