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Does the Use of Atro pine Provide Additional Ischemlic Stimulus to Myocardiumi During Dobutamline Stress Echocardiography?

UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California; 3931 Whitman Avenue N. #303, Seattle, WA 98103.

The diagnostic value of dobutamine stress echocardiography has been widely reported, but the value of adding atropine to achieve a target heart rate has not been widely studied. The authors tested the hypothesis that atropine does not provide additional diagnostic accuracy to a dobutamine stress echocardiography test. The inotropic effect of dobutamine in large doses has been shown to induce ischemic changes in the myocardium. Because atropine mainly increases heart rate (chronotropic stimulus), there is controversy as to whether its effects produce an additional ischemic response during dobutamine stress echocardiography. The results of the present study suggest that the ischemic response during dobutamine stress echocardiography is related primarily to an inotropic stimulus and not a chronotropic stimulus, and therefore, the authors concluded it may not be necessary to add atropine routinely to dobutamine stress echocardiography tests.

Key Words: atropine • dobutamine • stress echocardiography

Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Vol. 12, No. 6, 254-259 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/875647939601200602


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