Objective effects of a 6 months' endurance and strength training program in outpatients with congestive heart failure.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and the effects of a long-term training program with endurance and strength elements for patients with advanced congestive heart failure (CHF).

Methods: We studied 14 patients, mean age 57 yr, mean NYHA class 2.7, mean LVEF 29%, and mean VO2max 17.

Hemodynamic and mechanical determinants of myocardial O2 consumption in normal human heart: effects of dobutamine.

The relationship of myocardial O2 consumption (MVO2) to its potential hemodynamic and mechanical determinants was investigated in eight healthy normal volunteers at rest and during infusion of dobutamine (5-10 micrograms.kg-1.min-1).

Mechanisms of chronic regional postischemic dysfunction in humans. New insights from the study of noninfarcted collateral-dependent myocardium.

Background: Even in the absence of a previous myocardial infarction, patients with coronary artery disease often present with chronic regional wall motion abnormalities that are reversible spontaneously or after coronary revascularization. In these patients, regional dysfunction has been proposed to result either from prolonged postischemic dysfunction (myocardial "stunning") or from adaptation to chronic hypoperfusion (myocardial "hibernation"). This study examines which of these two mechanisms is responsible for the chronic regional dysfunction often detected in patients with angina and noninfarcted collateral-dependent myocardium.

Contribution of left ventricular diastolic function to exercise capacity in normal subjects.

Previous studies have established that most of the heterogeneity in exercise capacity seen with sedentariness, aging, or physical training can be accounted for by individual differences in the maximal rate of total body oxygen consumption (VO2 max) during dynamic exercise. However, the factors that limit VO2 max in normal subjects remain disputed. To test the hypothesis that differences in left ventricular diastolic performance contribute to the heterogeneity of VO2 max seen in healthy subjects, 57 normal sedentary volunteers (36 +/- 13 yr, range 20-76 yr) and 9 endurance athletes (37 +/- 8 yr, range 26-51 yr) were studied.

Competition between palmitate and ketone bodies as fuels for the heart: study with positron emission tomography.

To test the ability of ketone bodies to inhibit myocardial fatty acid oxidation in vivo, the myocardial clearance kinetics of [1-11C]palmitate was assessed with positron emission tomography in six fasted volunteers and six instrumented dogs, studied repeatedly before and during infusion of 3-hydroxybutyrate (17 mumol.kg-1 x min-1). With the use of multiexponential fitting of tissue time-activity curves, the size, half time (T1/2), and index of the early rapid phase of 11C myocardial clearance, reflecting palmitate oxidation, were calculated.