The cardiopulmonary exercise test is safe and reliable in elderly patients with chronic heart failure.

Aim: To assess safety and feasibility of cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPX) in elderly patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and left ventricular dysfunction.

Methods And Results: We analysed 395 cardiopulmonary exercise tests (CPXs) performed in 227 clinically stable patients with CHF [mean age 76 years, males 70%, mean New York Heart Association (NYHA) class 2.2 +/- 0.

Brain natriuretic peptide is a reliable indicator of ventilatory abnormalities during cardiopulmonary exercise test in heart failure patients.

Background: Whether brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), a neurohormone marker of ventricular dysfunction, correlates with an enhanced ventilatory response (EVR) during cardiopulmonary exercise test, a well-known predictor of prognosis, in systolic heart failure (HF) is currently unknown.

Material/methods: Resting BNP was measured in 134 consecutive stable outpatients aged 69 +/- 11 years with mild to moderate HF and LV ejection fraction (LVEF) < 40% who performed a maximal exercise test. EVR was assessed as the slope of the relation between minute ventilation and carbon dioxide production (VE/VCO2 slope) > or = 35.

Brain natriuretic peptide plasma level is a reliable indicator of advanced diastolic dysfunction in patients with chronic heart failure.

The aim of the study was to determine the value of brain natriuretic peptide for the identification of diastolic dysfunction status in congestive heart failure. We studied 204 patients with stable heart failure. Brain natriuretic peptide plasma levels were correlated with echocardiographic parameters of diastolic dysfunction.