ABSTRACT
A total of 338 patients aged 10 to 56 years, who had undergone various cardiac operations, were divided, on the basis of a spiroergometric examination, performed together with the determination of maximal oxygen intake (MOI), into 4 functional classes. Determination of functional aerobic impairment, i.e. the magnitude of deviation of the established MOI value from that theoretically anticipated in view of the patient's age and sex, made it possible to determine the degree of decrease in the reserve capacity of the patient's cardiac and respiratory system (CRS). Comprehensive assessment of the functional state of the CRS, while taking into account the patient's individual characteristics, is a prerequisite for a differentiated quantitative approach to the design of rehabilitation programmes.
Subject(s)
Cardiac Surgical Procedures/rehabilitation , Heart/physiopathology , Respiration , Adolescent , Adult , Aerobiosis , Atrial Fibrillation/surgery , Child , Female , Heart Defects, Congenital/metabolism , Heart Defects, Congenital/rehabilitation , Heart Defects, Congenital/surgery , Heart Failure/surgery , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Mitral Valve Stenosis/surgery , Oxygen ConsumptionABSTRACT
Twenty-one male and 32 female patients were examined, using spiroergometry with simultaneous measurement of maximum oxygen consumption, in a study of natural adaptation after surgical correction of mitral stenosis. It was demonstrated that the transformation in the oxygen transport system after closed mitral commissurotomy continued throughout the first post-operative year and resulted in considerably improved physical working capacity; two phases can apparently be distinguished here: during the first phase, working capacity mostly expands at the expense of improved pump function of the heart, and in the second phase, due to better peripheral circulation in working muscles.
