Ischemic Preconditioning Detected by Treadmill Exercise Tests in Patients with Stable Angina

The aim of this study was to explore the ischemic preconditioning (IP) phenomenon in patients with chronic stable angina (SA) by using treadmill exercise tests (TETs). Twenty-nine patients with SA were divided into 2 groups: group A (n =15) and group B (n =14). There was no differ ence between the 2 groups in both clinical characteristics and extent of coronary stenosis. Group A was subjected to 2 TETs at a 10-minute interval, but group B had a 60-minute interval according to Bruce protocol. The occurrence and time of chest pain, maximal value, duration of ST segment depression, and arrhythmias that occurred during TETs were analyzed for differ ences in the 2 tests in the 2 groups. In group A, 9 patients (60.0%) complained of chest pain in the first test, whereas only 4 (26.7%) did in the second test (p<0.01); The time of occur rence of chest pain during exercise was 1.88 ±0.2 min in the first test, 2.3 ±0.4 min in the second test (p < 0.05); The maximal value of ST segment depression decreased from 0.21 ...