Predictive Value of Stress Echocardiography
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Retrospective and Prospective Evaluation of Stress Echocardiography
IRAS ID
240180
Contact name
Rajan Sharma
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
10 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
In patients with suspected coronary artery disease, stress echocardiography (SE) is a validated tool to detect possible blockages in the coronary arteries. During the test, ultrasound (non-invasive imaging, which possess no risk to the patient) is used to monitor cardiac function, while a drug (dobutamine) is infused based on the patients weight at predetermine rates (10, 20, 30 and 40 mcg/kg/min) to speed up the heart rate or the patient is exercised to a standardised regime. As with all clinical tests, SE does not have 100% specificity or sensitivity to detect disease and it is of interest to ascertain if changes in biomarkers can improve the diagnostic accuracy of cardiac assessment by SE. In addition, shortness of breath is a common symptom among patients referred for SE and these patients are at greater risk of mortality compared to patients with typical chest pain. As such, it is important to ascertain if this sub-group of patients have underlying respiratory disease in addition to coronary disease. In this population we would perform respiratory function testing prior to their SE and investigate the associated risks or heart disease and short (1-year) and long-term (5-year) outcome compared to a group of patients referred to SE for atypical chest pain.
St George's Hospital London is one of the UK's leading centres for SE, based on patient referral. As technology and medical treatment/interventions advance, it is important to ascertain the impact on patient outcomes. Our aim is to perform the largest retrospective (current patient records) and prospective (future patient records) investigation into the value of SE at predicting short and long-term minor and major cardiovascular events.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/NW/0440
Date of REC Opinion
21 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion