title: Evaluating exercise capacity in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.
abstract: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), performed in a clinical laboratory setting, has long been used to evaluate persons with suspected or confirmed cardiopulmonary disease. This form of testing is now recognized as the gold standard for evaluating a person's aerobic exercise performance. In addition, simplified submaximal approaches to assessing functional capacity are readily available; perhaps the most recognized being the 6-min walk test. With the growing interest in CPET for evaluating patients with pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH), gaining a better understanding of the significance of the various outcomes used and how they are relevant to evaluating patients with PAH is a an important endeavor. This review highlights the utility of CPET; the various outcomes that can be derived from this assessment and the various functional tests commonly used as well as related tests that may have a role in clinical assessment of patients with PAH.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, Manipal College of Allied Health Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal - 576104, Karnataka, India. abrahambabu@gmail.com
authors.forename: Abraham Samuel
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Babu
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arena
authors.forename: Arun G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Maiya
authors.forename: Ramachandran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Padmakumar
mesh_terms: D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D017079:Exercise Tolerance / Q000502:physiology*; D065627:Familial Primary Pulmonary Hypertension; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology