Impact of exercise based cardiac rehabilitation program in patients with transcatheter aortic valve replacement

Abstract

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Introduction Due to the increase in global prevalence of degenerative valve disease, aortic stenosis (AS) has played a preponderant role in the cardiovascular scenario, especially in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). An alternative management for this patients are the cardiac rehabilitation programs (CRP); however, their effect has not been completely understood, both in exercise capacity and quality of life, but neither in the improvement of cardiopulmonary performance and other cardiovascular outcomes. Purpose: To evaluate the effect of the CRP on exercise tolerance and cardiopulmonary performance in patients with AS undergoing TAVR. Methods: A cohort study was conducted including 26 patients with AS undergoing TAVR and divided into an intervention group who performed a 4-week supervised training program in the Cardiac Rehabilitation Service and a control group to whom instructions and recommendations to performed unsupervised exercise at home were given. Demographic and clinical data (VO2Max, METS12, oxygen pulse, heart rate, double product, left ventricular ejection fraction, body mass index) were collected at baseline and after a 4-week follow-up. Results: 15 patients were included in the intervention group and 11 patients in the control group. There were no baseline significant differences between groups. After the intervention, significant differences were observed in the METS 12 final gain variable between the control and intervention group (4.55 vs 3.1 p = 0.01). Intergroup analysis showed significant differences (percentage changes) in the intervention group with an increase of METS12 (67.4%, p = 0.001), oxygen pulse (18.21%, p = 0.01), final METS (39.47% p = 0.001) and a decrease in VO2 recovery time (-12.5%, p = 0.05), in the ergometric performance index by heart rate (-38.17%, p = 0.001) and by double product (-38.1%, p = 0.001). Conclusions A 4-week cardiac rehabilitation program is effective to improve exercise tolerance and cardiopulmonary response in patients with AS undergoing TAVR; improvement was statistically significant in METS12, oxygen pulse, VO2 recovery time, METS-load and ergometric performance index for heart rate and double product. METS12 final gain was statistically significant in intervention group in comparison with the control group. Abstract Figure. Control vs Intervention Group (METS12)