Coronary artery disease (CAD) is associated with high mortality worldwide. Narrowing of the coronary arteries can cause an acute myocardial infarction. Patient with cardiac ischemia are often treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Following hospitalisation, the patients are offered to attend a classical rehabilitation program with moderate exercise intensity. Current exercise program for cardiac rehabilitation has proven to reduce cardiovascular risk factors 1. Is it possible to improve the exercise capacity and risk profile even more if the exercise program includes more vigorous training? The program starts one week after the cardiac incident (AMI, PCI or CABG) and takes 12 weeks to complete. Patients with heart failure and valvular disease are excluded. First ventilatory threshold (VT1) and second ventilatory threshold (VT2) are determined during cycloerometry. VT2 reflects aerobic-anaerobic transition and therefore the aerobic functional capacity2. Exercise load reached at VT2 is used to determine the training load during rehabilitation. The research goal is to investigate the influence of training intensity on the exercise capacity and risk profile of CAD patients.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
343
The reached workload (W) during each training is noted during 12 weeks of rehabilitation. The relative intensity is expressed as a percentage of VT1 and VT2.
Jessa Ziekenhuis
Hasselt, Belgium
exercise capacity
The primary endpoint is the relationship between the actual training load (W) and exercise capacity (VO2max) obtained at the end of the rehabilitation.
Time frame: up to week 12
cardiovascular risk profile
The secondary endpoint is the relationship between relative training load and the cardiovascular risk factors.
Time frame: up to week 12
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