Stress echocardiography in "non-ischemic myocardial disease"

Stress echocardiography is nowadays an integral part of the diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease. In the submitted review the authors draw attention to the fact that ischaemic heart disease is no longer the domain of stress echocardiography. In recent years the interest of cardiologists in this method increased also in other cardiac diseases. Based on the appropriate pathophysiological mechanism of cardiac affection stress echocardiography is used to test left ventricular function after a dynamic or pharmacological stress, i.e. increased cardiac activity and cardiac minute volume in a number of heart diseases where we must know the extent of left ventricular affection and the functional reserve of the myocardium. These tests were also introduced to evaluate the impact of valvular disease and function of artificial grafts to evaluate left ventricular function in the transplanted heart. Stress echocardiograph holds its place also in paediatrics.