Épreuve d'effort précoce après revascularisation coronaire et revalidation

Ergospirometry was performed on 51 patients before their discharge from hospital, that is between the seventh and tenth days after myocardial revascularization by cardiac bypass surgery. The aim of our study is to show that this type of measurement can be performed with reasonable safety and that it gives an accurate assessment of the patient's ability to withstand exercise. It employs a metabolic approach: study of oxygen consumption (V'O2), carbon dioxide release (V'CO2), the respiratory quotient (RQ), the minute ventilation (V'E) and the respiratory equivalent for oxygen (REO2). The patients withstood a mean load of 82 ± 17.7 watts for a mean V'O2 of 1.186 ± 0.258 l/min STPD and a mean V'E 46.5 ± 10 l/min BTPS. Changes in respiratory and metabolic parameters as afunction of load are discussed, as is the advice that can be given to the patient regarding physical rehabilitation.