Contrasting cardiopulmonary responses to incremental exercise in patients with schistosomiasis-associated and idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension with similar resting hemodynamic impairment.

It has been reported that schistosomiasis-associated PAH (Sch-PAH) has a more benign clinical course compared with idiopathic PAH (IPAH). We therefore hypothesized that Sch-PAH subjects would present with less impaired cardiopulmonary and metabolic responses to exercise than IPAH patients, even with similar resting pulmonary hemodynamic abnormalities. The aim of this study was to contrast physiologic responses to incremental exercise on cycle ergometer between subjects with Sch-PAH and IPAH.

Optimizing the evaluation of excess exercise ventilation for prognosis assessment in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background: Increased ventilatory (.VE) response to carbon dioxide output (.VCO2) is a key finding of incremental cardiopulmonary exercise testing in both heart failure and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

Heart rate recovery in pulmonary arterial hypertension: relationship with exercise capacity and prognosis.

Background: Delayed postexercise heart rate recovery (HRR) has been associated with disability and poor prognosis in chronic cardiopulmonary diseases. The usefulness of HRR to predict exercise impairment and mortality in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), however, remains largely unexplored.

Methods: Seventy-two patients with PAH of varied etiology (New York Heart Association classes I-IV) and 21 age- and gender-matched controls underwent a maximal incremental cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET), with heart rate being recorded up to the fifth minute of recovery.