Clinical Exercise Testing - Expanding Utility Beyond the 1990's.

Abstract

799 This symposium will present perspectives on current research related to exercise testing with patients who have suspected or known coronary artery disease (CAD), congestive heart failure (CHF), or certain chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD). Cardiorespiratory exercise testing continues to be a widely utilized stand-alone procedure in the clinical setting, even apart from its substantial use in conjunction with stress imaging technologies. With appropriately selected patients, it carries a very low risk of serious complications, has documented diagnostic value, and is relatively inexpensive to administer. The symposium will focus on the research evidence related to the following issues: 1) prognosis with CAD patients, particularly with approaches that use multivariate prediction models derived from physiological and clinical responses to exercise; 2) prognosis with CHF patients, based upon criteria obtained from cardiorespiratory exercise variables; 3) understanding diagnostic implications of exercise testing, as a result of recent advances in quantification of CAD by angiography; 4) prognosis with CAD patients, based on the finding of chronotropic impairment during exercise; 5) understanding of functional limitations with COPD patients; and 6) assessment of CAD patients in the setting of exercise rehabilitation.