Current heart failure reports
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Curr Heart Fail Rep · Jun 2006
ReviewExercise testing with concurrent beta-blocker usage: is it useful? What do we learn?
Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) has been used for the assessment of severity of heart failure (HF), secondary to left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Initial studies determined that oxygen consumption (VO2) during exercise, as a measure of functional capacity, correlated well with the hemodynamic responses related to chronic HF. These studies led to the use of peak VO2 as a prognostic indicator in chronic HF. ⋯ These studies indicate that patients on beta-blockers have improved overall cardiovascular outcomes compared with patients not on these drugs. In addition, peak exercise VO2 still has prognostic value in beta-blocked patients; however, the thresholds for increased risk and need for transplantation have to be lower than in patients not on these drugs. There appears to be a real demand for a comprehensive survival score tool that includes the use of beta-blockade, along with CPET performance.