Supervised Phase II Cardiac Exercise Therapy Shortens the Recovery of Exercise Capacity in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

[Purpose] To investigate the effects of Phase II cardiac exercise therapy (CET) on exercise capacity and changes in coronary risk factors (CRFs) of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). [Subjects] Thirty male subjects with AMI were divided into an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG). Another 30 age-matched subjects with patent coronary arteries served as a normal-control group (NCG). [Methods] Subjects in EG (n=20) trained using a stationary bicycle for 30 min at their target heart rate twice a week for 8 weeks. Exercise capacity was defined as the maximal metabolic equivalents (METs) that subjects reached during the symptom-limited maximal exercise test. HR, BP and RPP were recorded. Subjects in EG and CG received exercise tests and screening for CRFs at the beginning of, end of, and 3 months after Phase II CET, while subjects in NCG participated only in the 1st test. [Results] METs of CG did not improve until the 3rd test, while RPP at the 2nd test showed a significant increase. However, EG showed increased METs at the 2nd test without increase of RPP, and increased their high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) during the follow-up period between the 2nd and 3rd tests. [Conclusion] Phase II CET shortens the recovery time of exercise capacity, helps to maintain the gained exercise capacity and increases HDL-C in phase III.

Clinical characteristics of functional recovery after coronary artery bypass graft surgery in Japanese octogenarians

“…In addition, reports on cardiac rehabilitation in octogenarians after cardiac surgery have mostly focused on the postoperative characteristics of patients with valvular heart disease involving aortic and mitral valves 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ) . Moreover, there is very limited information regarding postoperative acute physical functional recovery after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), as most studies focusing on postoperative physical functional recovery have investigated cardiac rehabilitation in phase II (recovery phase) and phase III (maintenance phase) 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ) .…”