Relationship between right ventricular ejection fraction and maximum exercise oxygen consumption: a methodological study in chronic heart failure patients.
BACKGROUND
Peak oxygen consumption at maximum exercise (peak VO(2)) predicts survival in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients. Right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) at rest has been reported to correlate with peak VO(2). We evaluated the strength and consistency of the association between peak VO(2) and RVEF measured by different radionuclide ventriculography (RNV) techniques in a prospective cohort study.


RESULTS
In 58 consecutive CHF patients (mean age, 53 years; 39 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy; 48 men), upright symptom-limited bicycle ergometry was performed. During exercise, ventilatory and gas exchange data were recorded and peak VO(2) was calculated. RVEF was calculated by use of first-pass (FP) RNV with single and dual region of interest (ROI) acquisition and planar multigated acquisition (MUGA). Irrespective of the method used, RVEF showed no relevant correlation with the corresponding peak VO(2) value (r = 0.11 for FP single ROI, r = 0.06 for FP dual ROI, r = 0.16 for MUGA). Peak VO(2) or changes in peak VO(2) after 6 and 12 months of follow-up were not determined by RVEF measurements.


CONCLUSIONS
In CHF patients no association was found between peak VO(2) at maximum exercise and RVEF at rest with different RNV techniques. Changes in exercise capacity are not reliably reflected by changes in RVEF measurements at rest.
Hacker
Marcus
M
Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Munich, Germany. marcus.hacker@nuk.med.uni-muenchen.de
Störk
Stefan
S
Stratakis
Diana
D
Angermann
Christiane E
CE
Huber
Rudolf
R
Hahn
Klaus
K
Tausig
Andreas
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D010807:Physical Endurance; D015635:Radionuclide Ventriculography / Q000379:methods*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013318:Stroke Volume; D018497:Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology