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.