Cardiopulmonary exercise testing in aortic stenosis patients before and after aortic valve replacement

Median peak workload increased by 8% from 133 (55) watts at PRE to 144 (67) watts at POST (p<0.001). Median ventilatory threshold (VO₂@VT) increased from 1216 (391) to 1328 (309) mL/min (p=0.001, n=28). Mean peak oxygen uptake (peakVO₂) was not significantly different between PRE and POST; 1871±441 vs 1937±404 mL/min (p=0.08). The oxygen uptake efficacy slope (OUES) was significantly correlated to PeakVO2 at both PRE (r=0.889, p<0.05) and POST (r=0.888, p<0.05) CONCLUSION: Physical work capacity was improved 1 year following sAVR, in terms of higher median peak workload and VO₂@VT. The strong correlation between the submaximal variable OUES and peakVO₂ suggests that OUES might be a useful surrogate of peakVO₂ in this group of patients where maximal exercise testing is not always recommended.