Capacidade de exercício e seu valor prognóstico no pós-operatório de cirurgia cardíaca

introduction: the prognostic value of exercise capacity in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (cabg) needs clarification. objectives: to assess exercise capacity and its prognostic value in patients with coronary artery disease undergoing elective cabg. materials and methods: we evaluated 21 patients and 29 controls. two incremental shuttle walk test (iswt) and two tests of 6-min walk test (6mwt) were performed randomly on alternate days. the handgrip strength (fpm) was also evaluated. results: the fpm in percentages (78.4 ± 16 vs. 97.2 ± 15%), the 6mwt in meters (412 ± 79 vs. 601 ± 7 m) and percentage values (72 ± 13 vs. 110 ± 11%) and the iswt in meters (257 ± 90 vs. 517 ± 138 m) and percentage values (53 ± 16 vs. 108 ± 16%) were significantly (p < 0.05) lower in patients. eleven patients had postoperative complications (group c) and 10 had a good outcome (group sc). the group c showed significantly (p < 0.05), older age (57 ± 6 vs. 71 ± 7 years old), fpm lower (33 ± 6 vs. 9 ± 41 kgf) and iswt lower (208 ± 81 vs. 311 ± 66 m). there were no significant differences for the 6mwt. logistic regression analysis comparing the iswt and 6mwt selected iswt as a determinant of prognosis of patients (p = 0.04). conclusion: patients waiting for elective cabg have significantly reduced exercise capacity and iswt had significant prognostic value discriminating patients with postoperative complications.