Effect of Aerobic Training on Ventricular Remodeling after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in different communities worldwide, and impair the patient’s quality of life (QoL). Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) as a clinical index of myocardial contractility and its pumping action is a well established predictor of mortality and long term prognosis in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Exercise training in post event CAD patients could significantly improve not only the myocardial contractility in terms of LVEF but also could be effectively and safely used with low risk and moderate risk CAD patients. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of exercise training on ventricular remodeling and QoL after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Subjects and Methods: Sixty patients of both sexes had been recruited from National Heart Institute (NHI), Cairo, Egypt. All patients were within the first year after PCI. They were randomly assigned to 2 groups equal in numbers. Study group was 30 patients (21 men and 9 women, mean age was 52.2 ± 4.9 years) that had been received aerobic moderate intensity exercise training on bicycle ergometer for 50 minutes, 3 times/week, day after day, for 3 months, while control group was 30 patients (20 men and 10 women, mean age was 53.4 ± 4.8 years) that had been received the traditional cardiac care without any exercise training in form of routine pharmacological therapy and lifestyle education. Doppler echocardiography was used to measure LVEF, left ventricle end diastolic diameter (LVEDD) and left ventricle end systolic diameter (LVESD), and Nottingham health profile (NHP) questionnaire was used to measure differences in QoL between both groups. Both measurements were done before and after the study. Results: After completion of the study, a significant increase was observed in LVEF (P < 0.05), without any significant changes in LVEDD and LVESD, also, improvement in QoL were observed in the study group (
