The role of right and left ventricular function in the ventilatory response to exercise in chronic heart failure.

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
BACKGROUNDRight ventricular function may be an important determinant of exercise capacity, peak oxygen consumption (VO2), and the ventilatory response to carbon dioxide production (VE/VCO2 relation) in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).METHODS AND RESULTSWe studied the role of right ventricular function in CHF and also investigated the effects of absent right ventricular reserve in patients previously operated on with Fontan's procedure by measuring metabolic gas exchange during exercise in five groups of patients: (1) 10 patients who had previously undergone Fontan's procedure for congenital heart disease in whom the right ventricle is not functional; (2) 11 age-matched control subjects with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM); (3) 15 age-matched normal subjects; (4) 42 patients with CHF; and (5) 16 age-matched control subjects. Left and right ventricular ejection fractions (LVEF and RVEF) were measured by radionuclide ventriculography in group 4. In the young subjects, the VE/VCO2 slope was lower in th...