Energetic expenditure during ergometric training after myocardial infarction.

The immediate effects of a single rehabilitation program were appraised in 55 patients with stabilized myocardial infarction (40 inferior and 15 anterior). Subjects were submitted to functional evaluation before and after 20 sessions of interval training on different types of apparatus (cyclorowing, treadmill, bicycle ergometer) and divided into three groups comprising 32, 15 and 8 patients respectively. In both inferior and anterior localization of coronary disease, the predictive value of the energetic indexes Ei1 and Ei2 indicated the improvement in physical fitness resulting from exercise training. For each type of infarct, 15% of the cases studied showed no such improvement after both short- and long-term training. Early changes in energetic indexes are positively correlated with the results of functional evaluation program. Where training is not beneficial, these indexes may therefore be used to help define session by session individualized programs.