Cardiopulmonary Exercise Stress Testing

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPX) is a useful adjunct to monitored cardiac rehabilitation programs and helps the exercise physiologists to guide exercise prescriptions for cardiovascular patients; it is a routine part of the evaluation of patients who go through the UTMC cardiovascular rehabilitation program. It allows simultaneous assessment of effort, exercise capacity, cardiac reserve, and pulmonary function.

CPX tests are used by clinicians to evaluate angina pectoris or ischemic heart disease; in addition, measurement of peak oxygen consumption during CPX testing is of paramount importance in prognostication of patients with chronic heart failure.