Short-term haemodynamic evolution and late follow-up of post-infarct patients with left ventricular dysfunction undergoing a physical training programme.

The aims of this study were to investigate the short-term haemodynamic changes occurring in post-infarct patients with left ventricular dysfunction undergoing a physical training programme and the prognostic implications of such changes. Ninety-five male patients with no evidence of congestive heart failure, consecutively admitted for exercise testing with haemodynamic monitoring in the supine position, in whom exercise pulmonary artery diastolic pressure (PAdP) exceeded 20 mmHg were enrolled in an in-hospital one-month physical training programme. After training all patients' exercise capacity increased by 24% (P less than 0.001) with no change of PAdP. At matched work load, heart rate decreased (126 +/- 21 vs 120 +/- 19 bt min-1, P less than 0.05) as did PAdP (27 +/- 5 vs 25 +/- 6 mmHg, P less than 0.05) and A-VO2 difference increased (9.5 +/- 1.7 vs 10 +/- 1.6 ml%, P less than 0.01). Similar results were observed in a subset of patients with exercise PAdP greater than 30 mmHg (30 patients). In 11 patients with inadequate cardiac output neither heart rate nor PAdP decreased after training and a disproportionate increase in blood pressure was noted. Clinical follow-up ranged from 1 to 8 years (62 +/- 32 months). Seven deaths, 12 reinfarctions and 14 coronary artery bypass graftings occurred. The modifications, after training in work capacity, heart rate and PAdP, were not predictive of events.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)