Long-term myocardial adaptations after cardiac rehabilitation in heart failure: a randomized six-year evaluation using magnetic resonance imaging

Objective: To assess exercise capacity and left ventricular function using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) among patients with chronic heart failure randomized to a residential rehabilitation programme at baseline and six years after participation.Design: Randomized controlled study.Setting: Residential cardiac rehabilitation centre and community hospital. Intervention: One month of intensive exercise and risk reduction therapy including educational sessions, a low-fat diet, and 2 hours of individually prescribed exercise daily. Control subjects received usual care. Subjects were evaluated at baseline, after completing the one-month residential programme and six years later.Subjects: From an original study group of 50, 16 patients (8 exercise, 8 controls) with chronic heart failure were alive and available for evaluation after six years.Main measures: Cardiopulmonary exercise test responses and ventricular size and function using MRI.Results: Peak Vo2 was 20.0 and 12.4% higher after the rehabilitation pr...