Effect of contrast application on interpretability and diagnostic value of dobutamine stress echocardiography in patients with intermediate coronary lesions: comparison with myocardial fractional flow reserve.

AIMS: Poor image quality remains a limitation of dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE). This study aimed at investigating the effects of transpulmonary contrast application on endocardial border delineation and diagnostic yield of DSE in patients with intermediate coronary stenoses. The invasively measured fractional flow reserve (FFR) served as the reference standard. METHODS AND RESULTS: Seventy patients with an intermediate coronary stenosis entered the study. Cineloops were recorded during DSE before and after contrast application at rest and peak stress. Two observers blinded to angiography assessed wall motion. FFR was measured in the target vessel during repeat angiography and an FFR