Dipyridamole-echocardiography test as a clue for assessing the organic 'ceiling' of individual coronary reserve

Twenty-four patients with a history of effort angina, a positiveexercise stress test (EST) and coronary artery disease wereenrolled in the study; 12 patientshada positive dipyridamole-echocardiographytest (DET) and 12 had a negative DET. Each patient performeda total of 4 ESTs in the absence of therapy on two successivedays; for each test the rate-pressure product (RPP), an establishedindex of my ocardial oxygen demand, was measured at the onsetof ischaemia (ST depression >0–15mV) or at the peakof maximal exercise (if a repeated EST was negative). Taking into account the lowest of the 4 RPP values ( x 1/100)in each patient, there was no significant difference betweenDET-negatives and DET-positives (185.2±49.3 vs 157.4±32.4).Conversely, when considering the highest of the 4 RPP valuesin each patient, there was a significant difference betweenDET-negatives and DET-positives (280.3 ± 63.9 vs 183.3± 37.0; p < 0.01). Thus, DET may provide a clinically useful tool for assessingin the individual the organic ’ceiling‘ of coronaryreserve, by eliminating the variability in coronary tone, whichmay affect EST reproducibility and the correct evaluation ofthe impairment of organic coronary reserve.