SynthesisCardiovascular ultrasound2008
The diagnostic accuracy of pharmacological stress echocardiography for the assessment of coronary artery disease: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Cardiovascular ultrasound, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 130 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prognostic relevance of a false-positive stress echocardiography response: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Open heart · 2025Pooled it
- Brazilian Guideline for Exercise Test in the Adult Population - 2024.Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia · 2024Guideline
- Dobutamine stress echocardiography in patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation: a pooled analysis of accuracy, perioperative and long term cardiovascular prognosis.The international journal of cardiovascular imaging · 2013Pooled it
- Guideline on Stress Echocardiography - 2026.Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia · 2026Article
- Article
- Echocardiographic video-driven multi-task learning model for coronary artery disease diagnosis and severity grading.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Real world hospital costs following stress echocardiography in the UK: a costing study from the EVAREST/BSE-NSTEP multi-entre study.Echo research and practice · 2023Article
- Changing Paradigms in the Diagnosis of Ischemic Heart Disease by Multimodality Imaging.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Implications of Alterations in Pre-test Probability in the 2019 Update of ESC Guidelines for Chronic Coronary Syndromes on Diagnostic Accuracy of Pharmacological Stress-Echocardiography: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of cardiovascular imaging · 2021Article
- Cardiac stress testing and coronary artery disease in liver transplantation candidates: Meta-analysis.World journal of hepatology · 2018Article
- Safety and efficacy of physiologist-led dobutamine stress echocardiography: experience from a tertiary cardiac centreEcho research and practice · 2018Article
- Utility of adenosine stress perfusion CMR to assess paediatric coronary artery disease.European heart journal. Cardiovascular Imaging · 2017Article
- Improving cardiac SPECT accuracy: Old robustness for a new gold standard.Journal of nuclear cardiology : official publication of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology · 2017Article
- The clinical use of stress echocardiography in ischemic heart disease.Cardiovascular ultrasound · 2017Review
- Effect of serum uric acid on the positive predictive value of dobutamine stress echocardiography.Heart and vessels · 2016Article
- Novel plasma and imaging biomarkers in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2015Review
- Temporal analysis of regional strain rate during adenosine triphosphate stress before and after percutaneous coronary interventions.Heart and vessels · 2015Article
- Myocardial Ischemia Assessment in Chronic Kidney Disease: Challenges and Pitfalls.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2014Review
- Prognostic value of adenosine stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance and dobutamine stress echocardiography in patients with low-risk chest pain.The international journal of cardiovascular imaging · 2012Article
- Roles of myocardial blood volume and flow in coronary artery disease: an experimental MRI study at rest and during hyperemia.European radiology · 2010Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecent American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guidelines state that "dobutamine stress echo has substantially higher sensitivity than vasodilator stress echo for detection of coronary artery stenosis" while the European Society of Cardiology guidelines and the European Association of Echocardiography recommendations conclude that "the two tests have very similar applications". Who is right?
aimTo evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of dobutamine versus dipyridamole stress echocardiography through an evidence-based approach.
methodsFrom PubMed search, we identified all papers with coronary angiographic verification and head-to-head comparison of dobutamine stress echo (40 mcg/kg/min +/- atropine) versus dipyridamole stress echo performed with state-of-the art protocols (either 0.84 mg/kg in 10' plus atropine, or 0.84 mg/kg in 6' without atropine). A total of 5 papers have been found. Pooled weight meta-analysis was performed.
resultsthe 5 analyzed papers recruited 435 patients, 299 with and 136 without angiographically assessed coronary artery disease (quantitatively assessed stenosis > 50%). Dipyridamole and dobutamine showed similar accuracy (87%, 95% confidence intervals, CI, 83-90, vs. 84%, CI, 80-88, p = 0.48), sensitivity (85%, CI 80-89, vs. 86%, CI 78-91, p = 0.81) and specificity (89%, CI 82-94 vs. 86%, CI 75-89, p = 0.15).
conclusionWhen state-of-the art protocols are considered, dipyridamole and dobutamine stress echo have similar accuracy, specificity and - most importantly - sensitivity for detection of CAD. European recommendations concluding that "dobutamine and vasodilators (at appropriately high doses) are equally potent ischemic stressors for inducing wall motion abnormalities in presence of a critical coronary artery stenosis" are evidence-based.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.