A comparison between cardiac pacing and exercise tests in patients with angina pectoris.

In 21 patients with ischaemic heart disease, the values of the anginal threshold were investigated during cardiac pacing and an exercise test. It was found that in the pacing test, ischemia could be expected to appear at a heart rate by 30% faster than that in ischaemia induced by exercise. If ischaemia was successfully induced in both tests, the threshold values of the time-tension indexes were equal, whereas the value of the pressure-time per minute index was 20% higher in exercise-induced ischaemia. In patients with hypokinetic circulation, during pacing the pressure-time per minute index first increased and then paradoxically decreased; this reaction can help find out patients with haemodynamic signs of heart failure.