Peripheral Adaptation Mechanisms in Physical Training and Cardiac Rehabilitation: The Case of a Patient Supported by a Cardiowest Total Artificial Heart
Background: The benefits of exercise training in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) are due to a combination of cardiac and peripheral adaptations. Separating these 2 components is normally impossible, except for patients implanted with total artificial heart (TAR), where cardiac adaptation cannot occur. Methods and Results: We report the case of a patient implanted with a CardioWest-TAH who underwent a comprehensive strength and endurance training program and was evaluated by repeated peak cardiopulmonary exercise tests. The patient experienced a 24% increase of peak oxygen consumption and an improvement in recovery kinetics during the training period of 29 months. Conclusion: This unique situation of a patient with a TAR, and therefore a fixed peak cardiac output, allows us to isolate training-induced changes in the periphery, that suggest greater oxygen extraction and more efficient metabolic gas kinetics during the exercise and recovery phases. (J Cardiac Fail 2011;17:670-675)