Exercise intolerance in patients with chronic heart failure: role of pulmonary diffusing limitation

In order to test the hypothesis of pulmonary diffusing capacity involvement in exercise limitation in subjects with chronic heart failure (CHF), lung transfer factor (TLCO), oxygen saturation (SaO2), cardiac output (CO) and gas exchange were studied over the course of an incremental exercise test in 10 patients and 10 controls. The TLCO and transfer coefficient for carbon monoxide (TLCO/VA) were measured at rest and during recovery by the single breath method. The SaO2 was followed non-invasively with a finger oximeter and CO was determined according to the carbon dioxide rebreathing method. Analysis of respiratory variables at maximal effort showed significantly lower values in patients with CHF as regards peak oxygen uptake (VO2), minute ventilation (VE), heart rate (HR), oxygen pulse (O2 pulse), and CO with higher ventilatory reserve (VR) than controls. At a comparable workload (30 W), patients with CHF demonstrated higher values for VE and lower values for CO than controls. The TLCO, expressed as percent of predicted values, was significantly lower in CHF patients than controls, respectively, at rest (90.5 +/- 3.75% vs 106.8 +/- 3.8%) and within 5 min after maximal exercise (87 +/- 4.4% vs 117.4 +/- 3.81%). The TLCO/VA showed comparable data between the two groups at rest (81.7 +/- 3.28 vs 90.3 +/- 2.86%). However, significantly lower values of TLCO/VA were obtained for CHF after maximal exercise in comparison to control subjects (77.5 +/- 3.85% vs 96.3 +/- 3.95%). These results confirm the alteration of the main variables in relation to cardiopulmonary exercise limitation in-tHF, and indicate a significant decrease in TLCO and TLCO/VA after maximal exercise.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)