Value and limitations of two-dimensional echocardiography for the detection of left main coronary artery disease

ABSTRACT

To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of two-dimensional echocardiography for the detection of left main coronary artery disease, echocardiograms were obtained of 47 patients (38 men and 9 women) with the use of a Hewlett-Packard phase array system. Coronary arteriograms were also obtained. Three falsepositive results compared with 28 true-positive cases resulted in a specificity of 90% for two-dimensional echocardiography; 3 patients had normal echocardiograms in the presence of significant angiographic lumen narrowing. Since 9 patients had left main trunk disease, sensitivity was 67%. Our findings suggest that twodimensional echocardiography is somewhat limited in permitting visualization of left main coronary artery disease.