Ventricular extrasystolic arrhythmias in exercise testing. II. Haemodynamic correlations.

Exercise testing (ET) has been used for assessing the arrhythmogenic tendency of myocardium in patients (pts) with coronary heart disease. It has been suggested that coronary patients with left ventricular (LV) dyssynergy are prone to present ventricular extrasystolic arrhythmia (VA) during ET. We studied the functional status of the LV in a group of 25 coronary patients who presented VA during ET (Group A), and compared the results with a group of 87 patients without VA during ET (Group B).

Effect of propranolol on postexercise left ventricular ejection time index.

The net delta left ventricular ejection time index 4 minutes after exercise is prolonged in many patients with coronary artery disease. This prolongation is thought to be due to the lack of response of the ischemic myocardium to adrenergic stimulation and has been proposed as a measure of myocardial ischemia. In this study, the effect of beta adrenergic blockade on net delta left ventricular ejection time was studied in nine normal subjects (Group A) and in eight patients with stable angina and coronary artery disease (Group B).

Malignant premature ventricular beats in ambulatory patients.

The characteristics of premature ventricular beats predisposing to ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation were assessed by 24-h ambulatory monitoring and maximal treadmill exercise testing in 339 cardiac patients with premature ventricular beats. Premature ventricular beats were divided into early (Q-premature ventricular beat less than QT), late (within the last 20% of the cardiac cycle), and midcycle. Ventricular tachycardia was recorded in 45 patients and ventricular fibrillation, in three.