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[Right ventricular function and effort tolerance in patients with chronic congestive heart insufficiency. A
P M Montes Orbe1, J M Ormaetxe, J D Martínez
1Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Civil de Bilbao, Vitoria.
Abstract:
We tried to assess the value of both ventricular function changes and its correlation with maximal exercise capacity in patients with chronic heart failure. For this purpose, a double blind crossover study was designed, and the change in the exercise tolerance and both ventricular ejection fraction were evaluated. When compared with digoxin treatment (p less than 0.01) and with a control-period (p less than 0.001), the captopril increases total exercise time significantly. The response of right ventricular ejection fraction was similar. The changes in right ventricular ejection fraction, but not those of left ventricular ejection fraction, correlated with the variations of exercise time (r = 0.67). These facts suggest that right ventricular function is an important determinant of exercise capacity in patients with chronic heart failure and that its behaviour explain, in part, the response to captopril treatment.