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Exercise echocardiography for structural heart disease

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Abstract

Since the introduction of transcatheter structural heart intervention, the term “structural heart disease” has been widely used in the field of cardiology. Structural heart disease refers to congenital heart disease, valvular heart disease, and cardiomyopathy. In structural heart disease, valvular heart disease is frequently identified in the elderly. Of note, the number of patients who suffer from aortic stenosis (AS) and mitral regurgitation (MR) is increasing in developed countries because of the aging of the populations. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement and percutaneous mitral valve repair has been widely used for AS and MR, individually. Echocardiography is the gold standard modality for initial diagnosis and subsequent evaluation of AS and MR, although the difficulties in assessing patients with these diseases still remain. Here, we review the clinical usefulness and prognostic impact of exercise echocardiography on structural heart disease, particularly on AS and MR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-ku, Kawasaki, 216-8511, Japan

    Masaki Izumo & Yoshihiro J. Akashi

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  1. Masaki Izumo
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  2. Yoshihiro J. Akashi
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Correspondence to Masaki Izumo.

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Masaki Izumo and Yoshihiro J Akashi declare that they have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Izumo, M., Akashi, Y.J. Exercise echocardiography for structural heart disease. J Echocardiogr 14, 21–29 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12574-016-0274-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12574-016-0274-8

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