[Physical performance in home ventilation patients]

Since 1995 we control the physical performance of our NMV patients using the six-minute walk test (6 MW). To determine the effects of ventilatory therapy on the physical performance a 6 MW was done before starting ventilatory support in 37 patients and repeated 3 (n = 33), 9 (n = 19) and 15 (n = 19) months after. Three months after the beginning of NMV therapy our patients significantly increased the distance achieved during 6 MW up to 120% and then remained stable for up to 15 months control time. We believe this effect is predominantly achieved by the ventilation therapy since no other therapy was done, especially no additional physical training. Furthermore, we studied 3 other patients ventilated for more than one year who underwent an additional physical training programme as in COPD patients for rehabilitation. The effects of this training were controlled by a 6 MV and by the determination of the VO2 max before and after training. All 3 patients under already instituted and current therapy increased their walking distance and 2 of them their VO2 max after training. This indicates a possible additional benefit in individual cases.