Background and Aims: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of 4- to 6-week Cardiac Rehabilitation Program (CRP) on functional capacity improvement of patients 6 weeks following aortic and/or mitral valve replacement/reconstruction (AVR/MVR) surgery.
Methods and Materials: Fifteen experimental subjects were enrolled in the CRP. Functional capacity was estimated by oxygen uptake (VO2) during exercise tolerance testing (GXT) before and after the CRP. To determine the CRP mechanism and its effects on cardiac output, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was measured by manual and automatic echocardiography. Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure level (BP) as criteria to evaluate the patient's ischemic risk were measured. All measurements were performed before and after CRP sessions.
Results: Functional capacity and VO2 at the maximum stage of the GXT increased significantly for the participants (from 6.67 to 9.92 Metabolic Equivalents (METs), P < .0001). Patients' LVEF increased significantly and at rest HR (from 92.86 to 84.40 bpm, P < .003) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) decreased significantly (from 113.33 to 104.00 mmHg, P < .01) following CRP. No significant differences between before and after CRP were noted in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) at rest (from 69.33 to 68.66 mmHg, P = .67, NS).
Conclusions: It was concluded that CRP strategies have positive effects on cardiac output, functional capacity, and patients functional class improvement in patients following aortic and/or mitral valve surgery.