Preliminary report of using cardiopulmonary exercise testing guide exercise rehabilitation in patients with chronic heart failure

The exercise rehabilitation in patient with chronic heart failure (CHF) is standard clinical practice, but it is rare using CardioPulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) guide to prescribe exercise rehabilitation in China.We performed symptom limited maximal CPET in 10 patients with CHF, randomly divided into two groups: 5 patients as control without exercise and 5 exercise patients used AŽÂ”50%W intensity to exercise 30 min/d, 5 d/w, x12 w. Before and after 12 w rehabilitation, we evaluated functions.There were no significant difference between two groups patients (P > 0.05). The exercise duration was increased from 8 min to 23 min after rehabilitation (P 0.05) and their changes were smaller than those in exercise group (P < 0.01).The CPET guiding exercise rehabilitation is safe and effective for patients with CHF.