[Effect of acute exercise on cardiac arrhythmias in the course of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].

It is suggested that ventricular arrhythmias may be the reason of sudden death in stable patients with COPD. Strenuous effort might provoke danger ventricular arrhythmias in those patients. The impact of maximal exercise test on cardiac ventricular arrhythmias was studied in 24 patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The treadmill, self limited exercise test according to Bruce protocol and accompanied by pulse oximetry was performed during 24 hour Holter monitoring. We found ventricular extrasystoles in all patients, in an average 492 +/- 770, complex ventricular extrasystoles in 17 patients and nonsustained ventricular tachycardia in 8 patients. 81% of all ventricular extrasystoles, 80% complex ventricular extrasystoles and 70% nonsustained ventricular tachycardia occurred during the test and up to 2 hour after the test. Patients with complex ventricular arrhythmias were younger and mostly achieved more MET during exercise, but they did not differ in advancing of COPD as measured by spirometry, gas measurements and echocardiography. Although maximal exercise test enhances ventricular arrhythmias it produced no sustained, symptomatic ventricular arrhythmias in patients with advanced and stable COPD.