The degree of ischaemia identified by dobutamine stress echocardiography predicts the efficacy of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with stable coronary-artery disease, analysis of trial data suggests.

UK researchers carried out a secondary analysis of data from the ORBITA trial, in which 200 patients with stable angina and more than 70% single vessel stenosis were randomised to optimal medical therapy with either PCI or sham PCI.

In that trial, PCI was shown to add no benefit to exercise time at six-week follow-up.

In their new analysis, the researchers found that patients with a pre-randomisation dobutamine stress-echo score of one or more had more than threefold higher odds of having a lower angina frequency score with PCI than with placebo.