Seguran？a e exequibilidade do teste ergométrico em pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca

safety and feasibility of treadmill test in heart failure patients background. the functional evaluation of heart failure (hf) patients can be done by new york heart association (nyha) functional class, six-minute walk test, and treadmill test (tt) or the cardiopulmonary exercise testing, which is the gold standard. objective. the objective was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the tt in hf patients. methods. sixty-two hf patients with nyha ii to iv during the evolution of hf, with dilated cardiomyopathy and systolic dysfunction were evaluated on a ramp protocol. results. the average myocardial oxygen consumption obtained was 23.2 ± 5.9 ml.kg-1.min-1 for patients without beta-blocker (bb) and 23.7 ± 6.0 for those in use of bb (p=0.607). there was a decrease in blood pressure in 30.6%. the others presented a normal or elevated blood pressure response. the chronotropic index was 77.5 ± 36.1% for those without bb and 72.0 ± 31.9% for the patients using bb (p=0.555). there was no fatal complication or major cardiovascular event. conclusion. the tt was safe and easily performed in patients with hf.