Effect of high-volume and -intensity endurance training in heart transplant recipients.
BACKGROUND
A recommended component of heart transplant recipients (HTR) is endurance-oriented exercise therapy. However, the trainability of HTR after transplantation is vague. We examined the effect of high-volume and -intensity exercise training on exercise performance in HTR, compared with HTR undergoing regular rehabilitation training, and sedentary healthy subjects (SHS).


METHODS
We studied four groups of individuals; of those, three groups were HTR. Subjects were a regularly trained HTR group of denervated (HTR-D; N = 15), reinnervated (HTR-R; N = 26) hearts, a high-volume and -intensity endurance-training group (training time 7-20 h.wk(-1); HTR-ET; N = 12), and a group of sedentary healthy subjects (SHS; N = 21). All participants performed cardiopulmonary exercise testing.


RESULTS
The HTR-ET achieved a significantly higher performance (255 +/- 47 W, VO(2max) of 45.2 +/- 6.9 mL.kg(-1).min(-1)) in contrast to all other groups (HTR-D: 119 +/- 17 W, VO(2max) of 17.4 +/- 4.5 mL.kg(-1).min(-1); HTR-R: 119 +/- 17 W, VO(2max) of 16.9 +/- 3.7 mL.kg(-1).min(-1); SHS: 184 +/- 19 W, VO(2max) of 35.0 +/- 6.9 mL.kg(-1).min(-1)). The HR at maximal power output in the HTR-ET was 169 +/- 17 bpm and similar to SHS (164 +/- 17 bpm), but significantly higher than HTR-D (125 +/- 16) and HTR-R (142 +/- 10). Maximal lactate concentration (LAmax) of HTR-ET was 9.9 +/- 2.2 mmol.L(-1), comparable to SHS (9.2 +/- 2.1 mmol.L(-1)), and significantly higher than HTR-D (5.5 +/- 1.5 mmol.L(-1)) and HTR-R (5.1 +/- 1.0 mmol.L(-1)).


CONCLUSIONS
Data suggest that HTR can perform high-volume and -intensity exercise training, reaching exercise performance comparable to or even exceeding values of sedentary or moderately trained healthy subjects.
Pokan
Rochus
R
Department of Sports Physiology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Von Duvillard
Serge P
SP
Ludwig
Jutta
J
Rohrer
Andrea
A
Hofmann
Peter
P
Wonisch
Manfred
M
Smekal
Gerhard
G
Schmid
Peter
P
Pacher
Richard
R
Bachl
Norbert
N
D000328:Adult; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D010807:Physical Endurance; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D019344:Lactic Acid