Study population
The study was approved by the Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Ethics Committee and conformed to the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. All subjects participating in the study gave informed consent. The subjects who underwent either myocardial perfusion scintigraphy or treadmill test for myocardial stress, were included in this prospective study and the ones who had positive stresss test and scheduled for coronary angiography were evaluated with STE.
All participants were initially evaluated by a standard echocardiographic examination. Patients with previous myocardial infarction, patients with acute coronary syndrome, moderate and severe valve disease, cardiomyopathy, chronic systemic or inflammatory diseases or any form of malignancy, and patients with previous thoracic surgery, were excluded from the study.
Ventricular function was assessed by STE before the angiography and it was compared with angiography results thereafter (Figure 1)