Effect of exercise on left ventricular ejection fraction in men with coronary artery disease.

Abstract Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was measured at rest and during supine bicycle exercise in 31 men with arteriographically defined coronary disease and in 15 normal men. LVEF was calculated from a left ventricular time vs activity curve (collimated scintillation probe, 99m Technetium) as the fractional fall in countrate divided by the background-corrected left ventricular end-diastolic count-rate. In cormal men LVEF at rest averaged .59 ± .06 (±SD) and during exercise was .72 ± .08. LVEF did not increase with exercise in men with coronary disease (.55 ± .03 to .57 ± .03; N = 31; AVE ±SEM; NS). In 17 men with coronary disease who had ST segment depression with exercise, LVEF either decreased or was unaltered in all (.55 ± .04 to .49 ± .03; P