ABSTRACT
Treadmill exercise test and cold water face-immersion test were performed in 50 patients with tetralogy of Fallot at a mean age of 11.9 years, an average of 8.2 years after intracardiac repair. Cardiac catheterization was also performed in 45 patients 0.5-11 years after the repair.<BR>Exercise performance and results of catheterization were compared in patients with and without ventricular premature contraction (VPC) . In 22 (44%) of the 50 patients, VPC was induced by treadmill and/or cold water face-immersion test. Compared with the other 28 patients, the patients who had VPC during the tests, 1) were older (13.6 versus 10.6 years, p< 0.05, t-test) and were tested at a longer interval after repair of tetralogy of Fallot (9.5 versus 7.3 years, p<0.05), 2) showed no difference in the results of catheterization, and 3) had lower exercise performance.<BR>Cold water face-immersion test is therefore considered to be useful for evaluation of patients after intracardiac repair of tetralogy of Fallot.
ABSTRACT
A simple exercise test with vertical jumping was developed for children. The vertical acceleration wave form of back was measured with strain gauge type transducer. After amplification and rectification, the signal of positive acceleration was converted to frequency with voltage-to-frequency converter (VFC) and VFC signals were decoded by a digital counter. The digital output was normalized by gravitational value and defined as physical activity rate. 10 young males and 24 schoolchildren jumped at several frequencies and oxygen uptake, physical activity rate and heart rate were measured. Also 28 children under school age jumped arbitrary and heart rate and physical activity rate were recorded. The results showed that the oxygen uptake per body weight had good correlation to the physical activity rate (r=0.95) . Although heart rate was significantly different with ages, physical activity rate which was defined as an index of exrecise test, was no significant difference with ages and weights (α<0.05) . The results indicated that this jumping test was helpful to make exercise stress test for younger children.