Journal Article

Practical guide to cardiopulmonary exercise testing in adults

Taube, Christian, Glaab, Thomas

2022

Overview

Unexplained exertional dyspnoea or fatigue can arise from a number of underlying disorders and shows only a weak correlation with resting functional or imaging tests. Noninvasive cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) offers a unique, but still under-utilised and unrecognised, opportunity to study cardiopulmonary and metabolic changes simultaneously. CPET can distinguish between a normal and an abnormal exercise response and usually identifies which of multiple pathophysiological conditions alone or in combination is the leading cause of exercise intolerance. Therefore, it improves diagnostic accuracy and patient health care by directing more targeted diagnostics and facilitating treatment decisions. Consequently, CPET should be one of the early tests used to assess exercise intolerance. However, this test requires specific knowledge and there is still a major information gap for those physicians primarily interested in learning how to systematically analyse and interpret CPET findings. This article describes the underlying principles of exercise physiology and provides a practical guide to performing CPET and interpreting the results in adults.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Nature Publishing Group,BMC
• Subject: 9-Panel plot / Adult / Adults / Blood pressure / Carbon dioxide / Cardiovascular disease / Cardiovascular system / Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / COVID-19 / Dyspnea / Dyspnea - physiopathology / Dyspnea - rehabilitation / Ergometry / Exercise / Exercise limitation / Exercise physiology / Exercise tests / Exercise Tolerance - physiology / Fatigue tests / Fitness equipment / Gases / Health care / Heart failure / Humans / Hyperventilation / Intolerance / Lung diseases / Lungs / Medical examination / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Methods / Pathophysiology / Patients / Physicians / Physiological aspects / Pneumology/Respiratory System / Practice Guidelines as Topic / Pulmonary hypertension / Respiration / Respiratory Function Tests - standards / Review / Testing / Ventilatory inefficiency / Warm up (exercise)