[Benefits and risks of exercise training in coronary artery disease patients]

Cardiac rehabilitation programs improve vital and functional prognosis in patients suffering from stable angina or after myocardial infarction. The studies focusing on the balance risks/benefits of cardiac rehabilitation are relatively old; therefore, the patients included in these studies are different from today's patients mainly because of different management of the acute phases and of modifications of the medical treatment in stable angina (ABCDE protocols). The authors present the preliminary results of a French multicentric register focusing on complications during cardiac rehabilitation conducted on behalf of the French Society of Cardiology. Complications are rare: one resuscitated cardiac arrest/1.3 millions exercise training hours and no death was reported. It must be highlighted that, in some patients, the antianginal medical treatment must be reinforced in order to allow exercise training without myocardial ischaemia.