| Abstract: | The diagnosis of viable myocardium in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction is essential for prediction of effectiveness and validity of myocardial revascularization as well as of prognosis in such patients. Great advances in intravascular reconstructive interventions on coronary arteries makes this diagnosis still more important. For diagnosis of reversible forms of LV myocardial dysfunction (stunned and hibernating myocardium) such highly informative methods as positron-emission tomography, single-photon emission computed tomography, nuclear magnetic resonance may be applied but they are not easily available because of high cost. Introduction of stress echo-CG into cardiological practice helps solve this problem as the method is available, relatively cheap, reproducible and sufficiently precise. It detects viable myocardium in IHD patients with high sensitivity and specificity. Echocardiographically, viable myocardium is marked by increased contractility in one or more segments with initial hypo- and akinesia. |
