title: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing is a core assessment for patients with heart failure.
abstract: Despite advances in the treatment of heart failure (HF), which have resulted in improved survival, overall prognosis continues to be poor. Given the high short-term mortality rate, it remains important to utilize assessment techniques with established prognostic value in this patient population. Ideally, a given assessment should also be able to accurately reflect disease severity, a heterogeneous phenomenon in patients with HF, and accurately reflect the magnitude of physiologic/clinical improvement following the implementation or titration of an intervention. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX) satisfies all of the aforementioned desirable assessment attributes. Peak oxygen consumption and the minute ventilation/carbon dioxide production slope are key CPX variables in assessing prognosis and gauging disease severity. Given the high value of information obtained from this procedure, CPX should be considered a core assessment in the HF population. The current review will concisely define key CPX variables and summarize their clinical applications in patients with HF.
authors: Physical Therapy Program, Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, USA. rarena70@gmail.com
authors: Ross
authors: R
authors: Arena
authors: Jonathan
authors: J
authors: Myers
authors: Marco
authors: M
authors: Guazzi