Cardiopulmonary exercise function among patients undergoing transcatheter pulmonary valve implantation in the US Melody valve investigational trial

We assessed the hypothesis that there is an improvement in clinical and physiologic parameters of cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) after implantation of a transcatheter pulmonary valve (TPV).

Transcatheter pulmonary valve provides a new tool for treating conduit stenosis and regurgitation in patients with right ventricle (RV) to pulmonary artery conduit dysfunction.

Patients who underwent a TPV placement between January 2007 and January 2010 (N = 150) were investigated with a standardized CPET protocol before and at 6 months after TPV placement. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing was performed on a mechanically braked cycle ergometer with respiratory gas exchange analysis.

Six months post TPV, small but statistically significant improvements were observed in the maximum workload (65.0% ± 18.8% to 68.3% ± 20.3% predicted, P < .001) and the ratio of minute ventilation to CO(2) production at the anaerobic threshold (30.8 ± 4.7 to 29.1 ± 4.1, P < .001). There was no significant change in peak oxygen consumption (VO(2)). Patients with pre-TPV hemodynamics consistent with RV dysfunction and patients with a lower pre-TPV peak VO(2) tended to have the greatest improvement in peak VO(2). The correlation between TPV-related improvements in peak VO(2) and baseline clinical variables were weak, however, and these variables could not be used to reliably identify patients likely to have improved peak VO(2) after TPV.

In patients with RV to pulmonary artery conduit dysfunction, TPV is associated with modest improvement in exercise capacity and gas exchange efficiency during exercise.