Lately there has been a lot of talk about the so-called “New Cardiac Ultrasound Techniques”. As you may have heard, these are promising technological developments in the imaging of the heart using ultrasound, which with their application bring a change in the way of thinking in the modern diagnosis and treatment of cardiac diseases.
Coronary Artery Disease is caused by atheromatous plaques that develop and block the blood supply network of the heart. Until today we tried to do this with the Fatigue Test, the well-known Fatigue Test. But over time we saw that the Fatigue Test was only useful in about 67% of patients. That is, there was a large percentage of patients, about 30-35% with hidden ischemia, that could have a problem and not show up in the Fatigue Test. Our attempt to diagnose Coronary Artery Disease more quickly and more validly has highlighted a number of alternative efforts and studies, with the aim of showing earlier ECG changes created by ischemia. This is how Scintigraphy, Magnetic Tomography and, in recent years, Dynamic Ultrasound or Stress Echo were developed.
With dynamic ultrasound instead of EKG changes we try to detect mobility deficits. In other words, we monitor the movement of the walls of the heart during the induction of special stress with an increase in heart rate. How is this possible? By administering a small amount of a special drug, we make the heart work faster, as if we were exercising, so that we create a small stress on the heart and its oxygen needs increase, that is, more blood is required to circulate. If there is a narrowing in an artery and the blood does not pass through it well, then there will be a problem in the movement of that part of the heart, which we will see on the ultrasound, as a result of which we can diagnose Coronary Artery Disease in time, without waiting or having the doubt whether or not the examinee’s ECG will change. It has therefore been found that with this method we can safely diagnose up to 90% of Coronary Artery Disease.
The important advantages of the method also include no need to administer radioactive materials, as is done with scintigraphy, no need to be placed in a closed chamber, as is done with the magnet (it has been found that 30% of patients cannot undergo MRI due to claustrophobic feeling), the speed and low cost of the method. Of course, this does not mean that the other assessment methods are less useful, but that in our arsenal there is now another powerful and reliable method of early diagnosis of Coronary Artery Disease. Your doctor will determine exactly which method is right for you and how you will best benefit from it.
