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Published on: July 5, 2017
Short- and long-term effects of endurance training in patients with mitochondrial myopathy
T D Jeppesen1, M Dunø, M Schwartz
1Neuromuscular Research Unit, Department of Neurology, and the Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark. dysgaard@rh.dk
Background And Purpose:
It is unknown whether prolonged training is a safe treatment to alleviate exercise intolerance in patients with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations.
Methods:
The effect of 3 and 12 months training and 3-12 months deconditioning was studied in four patients carrying different mtDNA mutations.
Results:
Three-month moderate-intensity training increased oxidative capacity by 23%, which was sustained after 6-12 months of low-intensity training. Training and deconditioning did not induce adverse effects on clinical symptoms, muscle morphology and mtDNA mutation load in muscle.
Conclusion:
Long-term training effectively improves exercise capacity in patients with mitochondrial myopathy, and appears to be safe.
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