title: Exercise testing for long-term follow-up in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.
abstract: We investigated arrhythmia, electrocardiography and physical work capacity (PWC) in the follow-up of ARVC.
  
  
  
  Twenty-three patients (13 men; age 41±12years) fulfilling diagnostic criteria were re-investigated after at least five years.
  
  
  
  Ventricular arrhythmia during exercise testing (ET) was present in 14 patients (61%) and showed variation between examinations. In eleven (48%), complex ventricular ectopic activity was observed at peak exercise or immediately thereafter. Mutations known to be pathogenic in ARVC were present in 13 patients (57%) of which 11 developed complex ventricular arrhythmia at ET. PWC at baseline was 190±66W (104±26%) decreasing to 151±61W (91±23%, p=0.008) after 10.7years.
  
  
  
  The appearance of ventricular arrhythmia during exercise testing showed temporal variation but was frequent in patients with relevant genetic mutation. Physical exercise capacity decreased over time in patients with ARVC in excess to the age-related deterioration and regardless of medication.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Physiology and Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karlsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Physiology and Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Engvall
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Physiology and Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Agota Alfoldine
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Physiology and Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. Electronic address: meriam.astrom.aneq@regionostergotland.se.
authors.forename: Meriam Åström
authors.initials: MÅ
authors.lastname: Aneq
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019571:Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: ARVC; Arrhythmia; Exercise testing; Follow up