Exercise Training after Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) - The 63rd Annual Conference of the Israel Heart Society in association with the Israel Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery 12-13 April 2016, David Intercontinental Hotel, Tel-Aviv, Israel

Eugeny Radzishevsky ^1,2,3 Ehud Goldhammer ^1,2,3 Nemer Samniah ³ Idit Dobrecky-Mery ^1,2,3 Uri Rosenschein ^1,2,3

¹Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Haifa
²Cardiology, Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa
³Cardiology, Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa

Background: Both endurance training (ET) and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) improve quality of life (QOL) and exercise tolerance in patients with advanced chronic heart failure (CHF), though a variable proportion of CRT patients do not benefit from treatment ("non-responders").

Aim: To determine the additional effects of exercise training on exercise capacity and functional capacity in CHF, F.C. II-III patients with a CRT device. Methods: Fifteen patients (all males, aged 64+/-5 years) with CHF and CRTD, 13 patients with functional capacity/class (FC) NYHA II and 2 in FC III. Exercise test (EXT) and 6 ninutes walk test (6MWT) performed at baseline and after 3 months. Exercise duration, metabolic equivalents (METS), 6MWT, and F.C. were assessed.

Results: CRT patients joined CR program 65+/-13 days after device implantation; all of them completed the usual 12 weeks training program, and the adherence time was 112 +/-7.1 days compared to 47+/- 6.5sd in the general cardiac rehabilitation group (p <0.01). Baseline 6MWD was 407+/-19s.d. vs 523+/-26 at 3 months, p