Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing-Based Algorithm and Its Usefulness in Clinical Cardiology
The Journal of Patient-centred Research and Reviews published a study that validation a simplified diagnostic algorithm involving only six CPX variables.
The study start from the asumption that CPX testing is underutilized by cardiologists due to complex diagnostic algorithms involving up to 30 variables as well as lack of validation studies. In addition, CPX also provides oxygen (O2) pulse as a continuous measure of stroke volume, which is its superiority to other stress modalities in which systolic function is measured at peak stress and rest.
The research group tested whether a 6-variable algorithm would discriminate cardiac from noncardiac causes of dyspnea when compared with comprehensive CPX testing to promote its use by cardiologists. It was also tested several cutoff points along with the composite criterion against the clinical standard to define the optimal O2 pulse cutoff point.
This is the first study to validate a diagnostic algorithm for patients undergoing CPX testing as well as demonstrate that a simplified 6-variable algorithm applied by a cardiologist without prior CPX experience is quite accurate to evaluate the optimal O2 pulse value at peak stress for discrimination of cardiac and noncardiac causes, and to provide the operating test characteristics for the common clinical practice of using composite criterion to diagnose cardiac versus noncardiac causes of dyspnea.
The article details are the following:
- Title: "Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing-Based Algorithm and Its Usefulness in Clinical Cardiology"
- Authors: Mirza Nubair Ahmad et al - Aurora Cardiovascular Services, Aurora Health Care; Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin
- Published in: Journal of Patient-centred Research and Reviews, Volume 2, Issue 4, Article 13
The study abstract can be viewed at the following link: click here
