Effects of MICT on Cardiopulmonary Function in Patients After TAVI

Effects of Moderate Intensity Continuous Training (MICT) on Cardiopulmonary Function in Patients After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI): A Randomized Controlled Trial

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR), particularly regular exercise, can improve the cardiopulmonary function, exercise capacity, and quality of life for patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Consequently, the patients after TAVI will be enrolled in our randomized controlled trial to demonstrate if the moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) can improve the cardiopulmonary function compared with the control group after receiving treatment for 12 weeks. Moreover, we will provide new insights regarding whether cardiac systolic function or cardiac diastolic function is mainly improved after regular exercise for TAVI patients. As a result, the principal hypothesis of our study is that MICT will improve the cardiopulmonary function and can extremely affect the cardiac diastolic function of patients with TAVI after the implementation of exercise for 12 weeks.

Inclusion Criteria:

• TAVI after 1 month
• able to start cardiac rehabilitation(CR) as judged by the study investigators
• age >18 years old
• 6-min walk distance (6MWD) ≥100m
• patients able to provide the informed consent before randomization

Exclusion Criteria:

• exercise-limiting comorbidities such as primarily orthopedic, neurological conditions that would exclude the patients from participating in CR
• linguistic deficits
• patient unwilling or unable to provide written informed consent
• patients with acute systemic diseases e.g. hyperthyroidism, electrolyte disturbances, uncontrolled diabetes, hemoglobin< 9 g/dL, uncontrolled asthma, severe obstructive pulmonary disease (forced expiratory volume in 1 second<50%), respiratory failure, and pulmonary embolism
• echocardiographic signs of prosthesis dysfunction including valve orifice area of <1.2 cm2 plus a mean transaortic pressure gradient of ≥20 mmHg, or a velocity of ≥3 m/s, at least moderate paravalvular regurgitation, signs of ischemia, severe arrhythmias, or hemodynamic deterioration during the exercise test
• decompensated heart failure (New York Heart Association (NYHA) class IV)
• patients with irreversible atrial or ventricular arrhythmias or patients with severe atrioventricular block
• bradycardia (heart rate<60bpm) or patients who need implantation of a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD)
• recent history of sudden cardiac death syndrome
• suspected aortic dissection, pericarditis, hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and subacute bacterial endocarditis
• untreated or uncontrolled hypertension (systolic blood pressure > 180 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure >110 mmHg) or hypotension (systolic blood pressure <90 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure <60mmHg)
• cerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral thrombosis, cerebral embolism or other brain disease history
• active or recent major bleeding or bleeding predisposition
• coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) within 3 months
• renal insufficiency (serum creatinine >2.5 mg/dl)
• planning to, or participation in another intervention study within 3 months
• patients with exercise intolerance or poor exercise endurance
• patients who are currently receiving systematic training
• researchers think it is not suitable to participate in this study