Skeletal muscle hypoperfusion during recovery from maximal supine bicycle exercise in patients with heart failure

Leg blood flow (LBF) and its relation to central hemodynamics were examined during recovery following maximal supine bicycle exercise in 11 patients with heart failure and 20 patients with normal exercise capacity after myocardial infarction. The results indicate that LBF was markedly reduced in patients with heart failure, and that decreased cardiac output response and enhanced peripheral vasoconstriction, which functioned to prevent hypoperfusion in the nonexercising vital regions and to maintain arterial blood pressure, were responsible for the reduced LBF during recovery in heart failure.