Simultaneous exercise stress cardiac magnetic resonance and cardiopulmonary exercise testing to elucidate the Fick components of aerobic exercise capacity: a feasibility and reproducibility study and pilot study in hematologic cancer survivors.

Background: Patients treated for hematologic malignancy often experience reduced exercise capacity and increased fatigue; however whether this reduction is related to cardiac dysfunction or impairment of skeletal muscle oxygen extraction during activity is unknown. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) coupled with stress cardiac magnetic resonance (ExeCMR), may provide a noninvasive method to identify the abnormalities of cardiac function or skeletal muscle oxygen extraction. This study was performed to determine the feasibility and reproducibility of a ExeCMR + CPET technique to measure the Fick components of peak oxygen consumption (VO) and pilot its discriminatory potential in hematologic cancer patients experiencing fatigue.