To determine whether heart rate recovery (HRR) following an exercise tolerance test (ETT) is correlated with a changing ratio of peak oxygen consumption (VO2) and maximal metabolic equivalents (METmax).
A total of 60 acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients who underwent ETT at both assessment points - 3 weeks (T0) after the AMI attack and 3 months after T0 (T1) were included. After achieving a peak workload, the treadmill was stopped with a 5-minute cooldown period, and the patients recovered in a comfortable and relaxed seated position. HRR was defined as the difference between the maximal heart rate (HRmax) and the HR measured at specific time intervals - immediately after the cool down period (HRR-0) and 3 minutes after the completion of the ETT (HRR-3).
HRR-0 and HRR-3 increased over time, whereas VO2max and METmax did not show significant changes. There was a positive correlation between HRR at T0 and the exercise capacity at T0. HRR at T0 also showed a positive correlation with the exercise capacity at T1. There was no significant correlation between HRR measured at T0 and the change in the ratio of VO2max and METmax, as calculated by subtracting VO2max and METmax obtained at T0 from those obtained at T1, divided by VO2max at T0 and multiplied by 100.
Post-exercise HRR measured at 3 weeks after the AMI onset can reflect the exercise capacity 3 months after the first ETT. However, it may be difficult to correlate post-exercise HRR at T0 with the degree of increase in cardiopulmonary exercise capacity in patients with AMI.
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To evaluate the effects of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on functional capacity in obese and non-obese patients who have suffered acute myocardial infarction (AMI).
Overall, 359 patients who have suffered AMI, and were referred for CR after percutaneous coronary intervention from 2010 to 2015 and underwent an exercise tolerance test before and after phase II CR were included in this study. The patients were divided into two groups: obese group with body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2 (n=170; age, 54.32±9.98 years; BMI, 27.52±2.92 kg/m2) and non-obese group with BMI <25 kg/m2 (n=189; age, 59.12±11.50 years; BMI 22.86±2.01 kg/m2). The demographic characteristics and cardiopulmonary exercise capacity of all patients were analyzed before and after CR.
There were significant changes in resting heart rate (HRrest) before and after CR between the obese and non-obese groups (before CR, p=0.028; after CR, p=0.046), but other cardiopulmonary exercise capacity before and after CR was not different between the groups. HRrest (p<0.001), maximal metabolic equivalents (METs, p<0.001), total exercise duration (TED, p<0.001), and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max, p<0.001) improved significantly in the obese and non-obese groups after CR. No difference in the change in the cardiopulmonary exercise capacity rate was detected between the groups.
CR may improve functional capacity in patients who suffered AMI regardless of their obesity.
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A 37-year-old man with a right transfemoral amputation suffered from severe phantom limb pain (PLP). After targeting the affected supplementary motor complex (SMC) or primary motor cortex (PMC) using a neuro-navigation system with 800 stimuli of 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) at 85% of resting motor threshold, the 1 Hz rTMS over SMC dramatically reduced his visual analog scale (VAS) of PLP from 7 to 0. However, the 1 Hz rTMS over PMC failed to reduce pain. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of a successfully treated severe PLP with a low frequency rTMS over SMC in affected hemisphere.
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