AIMS To investigate whether a low heart rate is necessary to maintain improvement in myocardial function after long-term treatment with a beta-blocker in patients with heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS Forty-eight patients with congestive heart failure were investigated: 30 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy participating in a placebo-controlled trial (15 on placebo, 15 on metoprolol), and...

BACKGROUND Exercise capacity as measured by peak oxygen uptake (Vo2) is similarly impaired in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). However, characterization of how each component of Vo2 changes in response to incremental exercise in HFpEF versus HFrEF has not been previously defined. We hypothesized that a...

BACKGROUND Few studies have investigated changes in autonomic function after training in patients with cardiovascular diseases, particularly patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Heart rate recovery (HRR) is a strong predictor of mortality in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of 8 weeks of supervised exercise training on autonomic ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relation between sympathetic efferent reinnervation and chronotropic competence during exercise testing after cardiac transplantation. PATIENTS Twenty five long-term cardiac transplant recipients and 11 normal controls. SETTING Regional cardiothoracic centre. METHODS Intracoronary tyramine was given to the transplant recipients and the per cent heart rate chan...

BACKGROUND A blunted heart rate recovery (HRR) from peak exercise is associated with adverse outcome in adults with ischemic heart disease. We assessed HRR after pediatric heart transplantation (HTx) and its prognostic use. METHODS AND RESULTS Between 2004 and 2010 we performed 360 maximal exercise tests (median, 2 tests/patient; range, 1-7) in 128 children (66 men; age at test, 14 ± 3 years)...

BACKGROUND Parameters of cardiopulmonary exercise testing were recently identified as strong predictors of mortality in adults with congenital heart disease. We hypothesized that combinations of cardiopulmonary exercise testing parameters may provide optimal prognostic information on midterm survival in this population. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 1375 consecutive adult patients with conge...

BACKGROUND Congenital heart disease, a common and serious birth defect, affects 8 per 1000 live-born infants. Decreased exercise capacity and development of obesity is common in this population. These children may benefit from therapies, such as massage therapy, that could enhance cardiovascular and skeletal muscle function when they exercise. PURPOSE A pilot study conducted at the pediatric ...

A simple and reliable Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based ECG Analysis system is discussed in this paper. An R peak detection system is modeled that identifies the time instances at which the R peak occurred. The system first calculates the threshold value for the next peak detection cycle, by looking at the previous peak. The hardware design has accuracy in excess of 99% in detecting th...

Background—Parameters of cardiopulmonary exercise testing were recently identified as strong predictors of mortality in adults with congenital heart disease. We hypothesized that combinations of cardiopulmonary exercise testing parameters may provide optimal prognostic information on midterm survival in this population. Methods and Results—A total of 1375 consecutive adult patients with congeni...