The role of cardiopulmonary exercise testing in Heart failure
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The role of cardiopulmonary exercise testing in people with Heart Failure with preserved ejection fraction.
IRAS ID
328217
Contact name
Chris Bleakley
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
Over 1 million people live with heart failure (HF) in the UK, with 20,000 living in Northern Ireland. Approximately 50% of these patients are said to have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). It is associated with obesity, diabetes mellitus and hypertension leading to increased ventricular stiffness and decreased compliance of the heart. These patients experience fatigue, exercise intolerance and go through repeated hospitalisations with worsening symptoms. Making a prompt diagnosis, understanding the pathophysiology and devising management strategies in such patients is challenging. Despite the scoring guidelines for diagnosis, patients remain undiagnosed and those diagnosed are advised to strictly manage their co-morbid conditions. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is a tool that measures the functional capacity of multiple integrated body systems as a response to exercise. CPET in HFpEF patients can potentially aid diagnosis, identify the predominant pathophysiology and help in developing management strategies. The project aims to establish the role of CPET in the diagnostic pathways, understand the pathophysiology of HFpEF and its use to design a targeted non-pharmacological intervention for the management of these patients. This hospital-based experimental study will be conducted in the Cardiology department at Ulster hospital after ethical approvals. Anonymous patient data will be retrieved from the patient administration system. After written consent, targeted history, and clinical examination, the participant will undergo an exercise test on a cycle ergometer with a pre-set protocol. The protocol would include a warm-up phase followed by a test phase with gradually increasing exercise intensity later terminating with a recovery phase for a total duration of 8 to 12 minutes. During the entire test, cardiopulmonary parameters will be recorded using standard medical devices. The results will be interpreted, and a conclusion will be drawn that will aid in the diagnosis, understanding the predominant pathology, and devising targeted management strategies.
REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
23/NI/0167
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jan 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion