This document discusses dobutamine stress echo, including:
1. Dobutamine stress echo is used to detect myocardial ischemia by inducing wall motion abnormalities, ECG changes, and symptoms through increasing myocardial oxygen demand.
2. Echo is used to visualize any wall motion abnormalities induced during stress. Dobutamine is preferable to other stressors as it more effectively precipitates myocardial dysfunction and is well-suited for imaging.
3. The test involves gradually increasing doses of dobutamine infusion while monitoring for changes on ECG and echo. It has various clinical applications including diagnosing CAD, assessing viability, and perioperative risk assessment. Serious complications are very rare.