(Circulation. 1995;92:2886-2894.)
© 1995 American Heart Association, Inc.
Articles |
Exercise Capacity in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
Role of Stroke Volume Limitation, Heart Rate, and Diastolic Filling Characteristics
From the Department of Cardiology, Royal Brisbane Hospital and University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (S.S.L., H.L.T., M.P.F.); the Department of Cardiological Sciences, St George's Hospital Medical School, London, UK (H.S., W.J.M.); and the Department of Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (I.B.).
Correspondence to Prof Michael Frenneaux, Department of Cardiology, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Herston Rd, Brisbane, 4029, Queensland, Australia.
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Abstract |
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 Top Abstract IntroductionMethods Results Discussion References |
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Background We previously showed that exercise capacity in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is related to peak exercise cardiac output. Cardiac output augmentation during exercise is normally dependent on heart rate (HR) response and stroke volume (SV) augmentation by increased left ventricular end-diastolic volume and/or increased contractility. We hypothesized that in contrast to normal subjects, peak exercise capacity in patients with HCM is determined by the diastolic filling characteristics of the left ventricle during exercise, which would in turn determine the degree to which SV is augmented, and that HR is a relatively unimportant determinant of peak exercise capacity.
Methods and Results Twenty-three patients with HCM underwent
invasive hemodynamic evaluation and measurement of
maximal oxygen consumption
(
O2max) during erect
treadmill
exercise to assess the relative importance of changes in HR and SV in
determining exercise capacity. Hemodynamic responses to
erect and supine exercise were compared in 10 of these patients. In a
separate group of 46 patients with HCM, the relation between
O2max and exercise
diastolic
filling indexes was assessed. Peak HR during erect exercise was 92±8%
of predicted maximum. O2max
was
29.0±6.4
mL · kg-1 · min-1 and was
related significantly to peak exercise cardiac index and SV index
(r=.71, P<.0001 and r=.66,
P=.001, respectively) but not to peak HR, HR deficit, or
resting or peak pulmonary capillary wedge pressure. Peak
cardiac output during erect exercise was not related to peak HR
(r=.13, P=NS). When erect and supine exercise
were compared, peak HR was lower in the supine position (153.3±19.9
beats per minute supine versus 172.0±17.6 beats per minute erect,
P=.003), but peak exercise cardiac index was similar
(7.9±2.6
L · min-1 · m-2 supine
versus 7.5±2.8
L · min-1 · m-2
erect). Pulmonary capillary wedge pressure was higher at rest
in the supine versus erect position (15.3±5.2 versus 8.1±6.1
mm Hg)
but was not significantly higher at peak exercise in the supine versus
erect position (28.5±8 versus 22.4±11.6 mm Hg erect,
P=NS). In the separate group of 46 patients with HCM,
O2max was significantly
inversely
related to time to peak filling at peak exercise
(r=-.60,
P<.0001) but did not correlate with time to peak filling at
rest, resting ejection fraction, peak filling rate, or peak exercise
peak filling rate.
Conclusions SV is the major determinant of peak exercise capacity in the erect position in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This in turn is determined by the exercise left ventricular diastolic filling characteristics. HR augmentation does not appear to be a major determinant of peak cardiac output in the erect position.
Key Words: exercise • hypertrophy • cardiomyopathy • heart rate • diastole
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Introduction |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethods Results Discussion References |
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A limited exercise capacity is common in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. We previously demonstrated that erect exercise capacity is strongly related to the increase in cardiac index but not to resting cardiac index or to resting or peak exercise pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP).1 There was also an inadequate heart rate response in some of those patients. This raised the question of the relative importance of heart rate versus stroke volume limitation as determinants of peak exercise capacity in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In normal subjects, peak exercise heart rate is the principal determinant of maximal oxygen consumption, although stroke volume is also important.2 In patients with heart failure, heart rate also appears to be an important determinant of exercise capacity, since chronotropic incompetence is associated with markedly reduced exercise capacity.3 We hypothesized that in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, because of the associated diastolic dysfunction, the ability to augment stroke volume may be the principal determinant of peak exercise capacity.
We therefore compared changes in stroke volume, heart rate, and PCWP during supine and erect exercise in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, focusing on the importance of limitation in stroke volume and heart rate in determining cardiac output and exercise capacity. We also assessed the relation between exercise capacity and resting and exercise indexes of diastolic filling in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
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Methods |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethods Results Discussion References |
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Two separate protocols were performed. The first was an invasive hemodynamic study and the second a study of diastolic filling during exercise. The protocols were approved by the ethics committees of the Royal Brisbane Hospital and the St George's Hospital London, and written informed consent was given by all subjects.
Patients
Subjects for the invasive hemodynamic study were
selected from 35 consecutive patients with hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy according to standard
diagnostic criteria.4 Subjects for the
exercise diastolic filling study were selected subsequently
from 66 consecutive patients with hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy. Patients were considered eligible
for study if the underlying rhythm was sinus and if they were able to
exercise on a treadmill and a supine exercise cycle and were limited
only by breathlessness or fatigue. Exclusion criteria included
significant respiratory disease, severe mitral
regurgitation (grade 3 to 4), inadvisability of
withdrawal of cardioactive medications, and inability to acquire
informed consent. Twenty-three of the first cohort of 35 patients
and 56 of the second cohort of 66 patients satisfied the above criteria
and were enrolled in the two protocols. Twenty age- and sex-matched
subjects without evidence of cardiac disease formed a control group for
the exercise diastolic filling studies.
Eighteen of the 23 patients in
the invasive hemodynamic
study were newly diagnosed and had not previously taken cardioactive
medications. In 4 patients, calcium antagonists were
withdrawn at least 3 days before the study. One patient had been taking
propranolol, which was withdrawn 5 days before the study.
Thirty of the 56 patients in the diastolic filling study
were newly diagnosed and had not previously taken cardioactive
medications. In the remaining 26, all cardioactive medications were
withdrawn at least 5 days before the study. Before the study, the
patients underwent practice sessions to accustom them to the techniques
of exercise and respiratory gas analysis and had demonstrated
<10% difference in maximal oxygen consumption
(O2max) on at least two
consecutive tests.
Study Protocol
Invasive hemodynamic studies.
We
assessed changes in hemodynamics during both erect and
supine exercise. In this group of patients with hypothesized
diastolic dysfunction, differences in preload, heart rate,
and blood pressure would be expected between these two forms of
exercise. The first 10 patients arrived fasting at 8 AM. A
20-gauge cannula was inserted under local anesthesia in the
brachial artery of the nondominant forearm. A 7F Swan-Ganz
flow-directed catheter was advanced to the left or right
pulmonary artery via the subclavian vein under local
anesthesia. After resting for 1 hour, the subjects
underwent symptom-limited supine cycle exercise using a Colin's
Cycle Ergometer starting at 25 W and increasing by 12.5 W every 3
minutes. Systolic blood pressure, PCWP, and cardiac output
(thermodilution method) were measured at rest, after each 2 minutes of
exercise, and at peak exercise. Pressures were measured with
Gould-Statham transducers referenced to atmosphere at midchest level
and recorded with a multichannel recorder (Mingograph 7,
Siemens-Elema). The patients were given a light lunch and then rested
for a further 3 hours. In the afternoon, the subjects underwent
symptom-limited erect treadmill exercise using the Bruce
protocol5 with simultaneous respiratory gas
analysis using an Airspec 200 MGA mass spectrometer linked via
an analog-to-digital converter to a BBC microcomputer by an
established technique.6 Sampling of mixed expired gases
was performed every second, and data were expressed as 10-second means.
A printout of minute ventilation, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide
production, and respiratory quotient was obtained. Maximal
oxygen consumption was defined as the mean of the highest two values of
oxygen consumption obtained during exercise. Blood pressure was
monitored continuously, and PCWP and cardiac output (direct Fick
method) were measured every 3 minutes and at peak
exercise.
The remaining 13 patients underwent insertion of brachial arterial and pulmonary arterial lines at 11 AM, were given a light lunch, and were studied 3 hours later. They underwent only erect symptom-limited treadmill exercise, and pressures and cardiac output were measured as described above.
Heart rate deficit during erect exercise was calculated by the equations7 maximum predicted heart rate=220-age (y); heart rate deficit=maximum predicted heart rate-that achieved.
Age- and sex-predicted
O2max was
calculated by the equations8 9 (for men):
O2max
(mL · kg-1 · min-1)=60-(agex0.55);
(for women): O2max
(mL · kg-1 · min-1)=48-(agex0.37).
Exercise diastolic filling studies. All patients and control subjects were studied in the fasting state. Respiratory gas analysis was performed in the patients during erect treadmill exercise as described above.
Equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography. Left
ventricular ejection fraction and diastolic
filling were assessed by equilibrium R-wave gated blood pool
scintigraphy using a standard technique at rest and during
graded semierect exercise on a cycle ergometer. Ten minutes after the
intravenous injection of 
1.7 mg stannous pyrophosphate,
5 mL of blood was drawn into a heparinized syringe and incubated for 20
minutes with 925 MBq (25 mCi) of 99mTc pertechnetate before
reinjection. Studies were acquired on a small-field-of-view
gamma camera (GE300A, GE Medical Systems) fitted with a low-energy,
general-purpose, parallel-hole collimator and interfaced to a
dedicated minicomputer (MaxDelta, Siemens). With the patient on the
cycle ergometer, the detector was adjusted for the left anterior
oblique view with the best ventricular separation and 10°
to 15° of caudal tilt. A 15% tolerance window was set about the
patient's heart rate, and each RR interval was divided into 28 equal
frames throughout. A constant number of frames per RR interval ensured
constant temporal resolution during diastole at all heart
rates. Data from each beat were acquired into a memory buffer in a
64x64 "word" matrix and if accepted, were reformatted with
two-thirds forward, one-third backward gating. Four minutes of
data was acquired at rest and at each level of exercise after a
30-second period for stabilization of heart rate at the commencement of
each stage. The initial workload was 25 W and increased by 12.5-W
increments. Exercise was terminated because of patient fatigue,
breathlessness, arrhythmia, heart rate >200 beats per minute,
or hypotension (systolic blood pressure less than baseline). No
patient developed angina during the exercise protocol. The rest and
exercise gated blood pool scintigraphs were analyzed by a
single operator who was blinded to the patient's history and exercise
performance. The composite cycle derived from each stage was
spatially and temporally filtered. Left ventricular counts
in each frame were determined by a semiautomated edge-detection
algorithm. Left ventricular ejection fraction (percent) was
calculated from the background-corrected left
ventricular activity-time curve. Stroke counts were
calculated as the product of background-corrected
end-diastolic counts (corrected for number of cycles
accepted and cycle duration) and left ventricular ejection
fraction. Peak left ventricular filling rate in terms of
end-diastolic volumes per second (EDV/s) and time to
peak filling in milliseconds after end systole were calculated from the
second derivative of the diastolic activity-time curve.
The validity of these radionuclide measures of diastolic
filling at high heart rates has been established
previously.10 11
Statistical Analysis
Data are expressed as mean±SD.
Statistical analysis was
performed by paired and unpaired t tests and by linear
regression where appropriate. For single comparisons, a value of
P<.05 was considered significant. For multiple t
tests, the Bonferroni correction was performed to overcome type 1
errors by comparing the probability values, with .05 divided by the
number of relevant tests being performed.
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Results |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethods Results Discussion References |
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Patient Characteristics
The clinical, echocardiographic, radionuclide, and ambulatory ECG features of the study groups are summarized in Table 1
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Erect Treadmill Exercise (23 Patients)
Exercise was
terminated because of breathlessness in all
cases, and all patients reached anaerobic
threshold.11 As shown in Table 2,
O2max was 29.0±6.4
mL · kg-1 · min-1 (47% to
120%,
with a mean of 76.7±16.1% of predicted) and was less than predicted
in all but 1 patient. Anaerobic threshold was 49% to 95%,
with a mean of 72% of
O2max. Heart rate
increased from 88±20 beats per minute at rest to 174±9 beats per
minute at peak exercise. The heart rate deficit was 15.2±14.8 beats
per minute; maximum heart rate was 91±8% of predicted. Cardiac index
increased from 2.4±0.5
L · min-1 · m-2 at rest to
8.1±2.0
L · min-1 ·m-2 at peak
exercise,
PCWP increased from 6±6 mm Hg at rest to 22±11 mm Hg at peak
exercise, and stroke volume index increased from 28.7±7.9
mL/m2 at rest to 47.7±13.0 mL/m2 at peak
exercise. Exercise-induced hypotension (defined as a fall in
systolic blood pressure of at least 20 mm Hg from the peak
value recorded to the value recorded immediately before
exercise ceased) was observed in 10 of the 23 patients. Resting and
peak heart rate, stroke volume index, and cardiac index were similar in
patients with and without exercise hypotension.
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Determinants of peak exercise capacity. Peak exercise
cardiac index was not related to peak exercise heart rate
(r=.19, P=NS) but was strongly related to peak
exercise stroke volume index (r=.9, P<.0001). As
shown in Table 3 and in Figs 1,
2, and 3, exercise capacity
(O2max) was related to peak
cardiac index (r=.71, P<.0001) and to peak
stroke volume index (r=.66, P=.001) but was
not
related to resting cardiac index, resting stroke volume index, resting
or peak heart rate, heart rate deficit, or resting or peak PCWP.
Patients with exercise capacity greater than the mean percentage of the
age- and sex-predicted
O2max for the
group (ie, greater than 76.7% of predicted) had higher peak
exercise stroke volume index (54.9±9.4 versus 42.6±13.8
mL/m2, P=.02) and higher peak exercise
cardiac index (9.3±1.7 versus 7.4±2.5
L · min-1 · m-2,
P=.02) compared with patients whose exercise capacity was
less than 76.7% of age- and sex-predicted
O2max. In patients whose
heart rate
deficit was 
20 beats per minute (n=7) compared with those in whom
heart rate deficit was <20 beats per minute (n=16), absolute
O2max and percentage of
age- and
sex-predicted O2max were
similar
(29.2±6.4 versus 28.9±7.3
mL · kg-1 · min-1 and
75.8±25.7%
versus 79.8±14.6%, respectively, P=NS). Exercise
duration
was not related to peak cardiac index (r=.3,
P=NS), peak stroke volume index (r=.2,
P=NS), or peak heart rate (r=.2,
P=NS).
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Supine Exercise (10 Patients)
Exercise was terminated because
of fatigue in 8 patients and
breathlessness in 2. The hemodynamic variables are
shown in Table 4. Exercise duration was not related to
peak heart rate (r=.14, P=NS), resting or peak
PCWP (r=.24, P=NS and r=.21,
P=NS, respectively), or resting or peak cardiac index
(r=.31, P=NS and r=.23,
P=NS, respectively). Peak cardiac index was related to peak
stroke volume index (r=.9, P<.001) but not to
peak heart rate (r=.14, P=NS).
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Comparison Between Erect and Supine Exercise
The hemodynamics
at rest and at peak exercise in
the supine and erect positions are summarized in Tables 5 and
6, respectively. In the 10 patients
studied in both positions, resting heart rate was higher in erect than
supine exercise (98.7±16.3 versus 75.8±14.8 beats per minute,
P<.0001), and resting stroke volume index and resting PCWP
were lower in the erect versus supine position (25.5±7.5 versus
38.4±11.0 mL/m2, P=.005 and 8.1±6.1
versus 15.3±5.2 mm Hg, P<.001, respectively). The peak
heart rate was higher in the supine position (172.0±17.6 versus
153.3±19.9 beats per minute, P=.003), and peak exercise
stroke volume index and peak exercise PCWP were nonsignificantly lower
in the erect and supine positions (43.6±16.5 versus 52.5±17.5
mL/m2, P=.03, and 22.4±11.6 versus
28.5±8.0 mm Hg, P=.03, respectively). There was no
significant difference in blood pressure, cardiac index, or systemic
vascular resistance at rest or at peak exercise between the two
modalities of exercise.
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Exercise Diastolic Filling Studies
Erect treadmill exercise. In the 56 patients with
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy studied, exercise was
terminated because of breathlessness in all cases, and all patients
reached anaerobic threshold.11
O2max was 28.5±7.5
mL · kg-1 · min-1
(76.5±19.3% of
age- and sex-predicted values). Heart rate increased from
69.8±13.7 beats per minute at rest to 162.7±26.3 beats per
minute at
peak exercise. Exercise-induced hypotension was observed in 17
patients. Resting left ventricular outflow tract gradients
were present in a similar proportion of patients with and without
exercise hypotension (4 of 17 patients with exercise hypotension versus
7 of 39 patients with normal blood pressure response,
P=NS).
Exercise radionuclide ventriculography. All 56 patients
and
20 control subjects performed symptom-limited semierect exercise.
In 10 patients, cavity obliteration made it impossible to quantify
diastolic filling at peak exercise, and these patients were
therefore excluded from analysis. The results are summarized in
Table 7. Mean exercise duration was 7.8±2.4 minutes in
patients and 16.0±4.0 minutes in control subjects. Heart rate was
similar at rest in control subjects and patients but was higher
at peak exercise in the control subjects (148.0±18.0 versus
114.2±17.6 beats per minute, P<.0001). Systolic
blood pressure was similar at rest and at peak exercise in the control
subjects and patients. Left ventricular ejection fraction
was higher at rest in the patients than in the control subjects
(67.2±9.5% versus 58±4.5%, respectively, P=.001)
but was similar at peak exercise in both groups (69.8±12.8% versus
66.0±9.5%, respectively, P=NS). Peak filling rate was
similar at rest (3.0±1.0 versus 3.1±0.7 EDV/s,
P=NS) but
was lower at peak exercise in patients compared with control subjects
(6.0±1.7 versus 7.8±1.2 EDV/s, P=.0001). Time to
peak
filling was longer both at rest and at peak exercise in patients
compared with control subjects (201.2±61.2 versus 122.0±68.0 ms
at
rest, P<.0001, and 127.0±43.2 versus 56.0±28.0 ms at
peak
exercise, P<.0001). In control subjects, there was a
significant inverse relation between the change in time to peak filling
during exercise and the change in heart rate (r=-.7,
P=.001), whereas no such relation was present in
patients (r=-.09, P=NS). In patients
with and
without exercise hypotension, resting and peak exercise ejection
fraction and diastolic filling parameters were
similar (resting ejection fraction, 66.7±8.8% versus 67.5±10.0%,
P=NS; peak ejection fraction, 67.1±13.9% versus
69.4±12.1%, P=NS; resting peak filling rate,
3.1±1.2
versus 3.0±.9 EDV/s, P=NS; peak peak filling rate,
5.9±1.7
versus 6.1±1.7 EDV/s, P=NS; resting time to peak
filling,
188.6±71.2 versus 208.6±54.5 ms, P=NS; and peak
time to
peak filling, 122.3±43.6 versus 129.7±43.5 ms,
P=NS,
respectively).
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Relation of exercise capacity to resting and exercise indexes of
systolic and diastolic function. As shown in
Table 8 and Fig 4, in the 46 patients
with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in whom
analysis was possible,
O2max was
inversely related to peak exercise time to peak filling
(r=-.60, P<.0001) but not to resting time to
peak filling, resting or peak exercise ejection fraction, or peak
filling rate. As in the invasive hemodynamic studies,
O2max was not related to
peak exercise
heart rate.
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Discussion |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethods Results Discussion References |
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In this study, we were able to demonstrate several important characteristics of the hemodynamic responses to exercise in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. First, augmentation of stroke volume during exercise is an important determinant of peak exercise capacity, whereas peak heart rate response is relatively unimportant. Second, peak exercise capacity is strongly related to time to peak filling of the left ventricle. Third, important differences exist between exercise hemodynamics during erect versus supine exercise. We previously demonstrated that erect exercise capacity in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is strongly associated with peak cardiac index but not with resting cardiac index or resting or peak PCWP.1 In the present study, we confirmed the above observations. This study also confirms that the increase in heart rate during exercise is less than predicted but that this limitation is mild.
Mechanism of Limitation of Peak Exercise Cardiac
Output
In both normal subjects and patients with hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy, an increase in heart rate during
exercise clearly contributes to cardiac output augmentation and hence
to exercise capacity. However, in hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy, diastolic dysfunction
has the potential to limit the increase in stroke volume with exercise.
In this study, there was no demonstrable correlation between exercise
capacity and peak heart rate. At high heart rates, the reduced time for
diastolic filling of the left ventricle might be expected
to reduce end-diastolic volume and, by the
Frank-Starling mechanism, limit stroke volume. In this study, during
erect exercise, both cardiac output and exercise capacity were
unrelated to peak exercise heart rate, but both were strongly related
to stroke volume. Thus, augmentation of stroke volume appears to be the
principal determinant of peak exercise capacity. Although an increase
in ejection fraction could contribute to stroke volume augmentation
during exercise, the mean resting ejection fraction of 75.4±7.4% in
our patients makes it unlikely that an increase in ejection fraction
could have accounted for the observed 66% increase in stroke volume
during exercise. Therefore, the ability to increase left
ventricular end diastolic volume is likely to
be a significant factor in cardiac output augmentation. The observation
of an inverse relation between peak exercise time to peak filling and
O2max and the lack of
relation between
peak exercise ejection fraction and
O2max supports this
concept. Although
time to peak filling is inversely related to heart rate in control
subjects, this inverse relation was absent in the patients studied,
which implied that they had various degrees of exercise-induced
diastolic filling abnormalities, limiting use of the
Frank-Starling mechanism. We have shown a similar inverse relation
between peak exercise time to peak filling and
O2max in patients with
ischemic
heart disease.12
Diastolic dysfunction in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy may reflect abnormal compliance as a result of myocyte hypertrophy and fibrosis, or it may be due to an abnormality of active relaxation, perhaps as a consequence of ischemia. However, two caveats should be noted: First, although these patients had some heart rate limitation, in no case was it profound, and it appears likely that in the presence of severe heart rate limitation, cardiac output would be limited to a greater degree. Second, a small subset of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy exhibits a restrictive filling pattern. In this setting, early ventricular filling is rapid but then effectively ceases by mid diastole. In such patients, stroke volume is thus fixed and heart rate response is likely to be the major determinant of cardiac output. None of the patients in this study had evidence of restrictive filling patterns on Doppler echocardiography or resting gated heart pool scans.
All patients in our study were limited by breathlessness during erect exercise, and exercise capacity was less than age- and sex-predicted values in all but one. We discussed in an earlier report the lack of association with PCWP in such patients.1 We accept the limitation of using absolute PCWP measurements (transcapillary alveolar gradient being the crucial measure), but the correlation of exercise capacity with exercise PCWP was so poor that we believe pulmonary juxtacapillary receptor activation13 is unlikely to be the dominant cause of breathlessness during erect exercise in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Because of our previous conflicting
observations of the effects of
amiodarone on erect versus supine exercise capacity and
hemodynamics,14 we felt it important to
compare exercise hemodynamics during supine and erect
exercise and, in particular, to assess the relative roles of stroke
volume limitation and the heart rate response in both positions. A
priori, the different loading conditions, particularly in the presence
of severe left ventricular diastolic
dysfunction, may result in disparate responses to the two forms of
exercise. We observed that peak heart rate was lower during supine than
erect exercise. Nevertheless, cardiac output was slightly (but not
significantly) higher at peak supine compared with erect exercise. This
is explained by the nonsignificantly higher stroke volume at peak
supine compared with erect exercise. Similar findings have been
reported in normal subjects.15 During both supine and
erect exercise, the principal determinant of peak exercise cardiac
index is peak stroke volume index; the heart rate is unimportant. The
absence of a relation between supine and erect exercise duration and
peak exercise cardiac index presumably reflects the fact that exercise
duration is a rather crude measure of exercise capacity, since in the
erect position, the relation between
O2max and peak cardiac
index was
relatively strong (r=.71).
Limitation of Exercise Capacity in Hypertrophic
Cardiomyopathy
The mechanism of exercise limitation in hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy remains unclear. Extensive work has
been carried out in patients with chronic heart failure, and a brief
review of relevant data may provide insight into what occurs in
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In chronic heart
failure, exercise capacity is related to peak exercise cardiac output
but not to resting cardiac output. Conversely, there is a weak relation
to resting but not to peak exercise PCWP.16 17 It has
been
suggested that reduced cardiac output may lead to increased muscle
glycolysis, lactate accumulation, and leg
fatigue18 19 and
that impaired vasodilator capacity of skeletal muscle blood vessels,
perhaps due to vessel wall edema, may also contribute to skeletal
muscle hypoperfusion,20 21 although that hypothesis
has
recently been challenged.22 Ultrastructural and
histochemical changes have been demonstrated in limb skeletal
muscle that are quite distinct from those associated with disuse,
suggesting that skeletal muscle hypoperfusion might be
important.23 The role of skeletal muscle hypoperfusion in
limiting exercise capacity has never been addressed in patients with
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Skeletal muscle
ultrastructural and histochemical changes have been reported but have
been interpreted as being consistent with a primary myogenic
myopathy24 rather than being due to hypoperfusion.
Notwithstanding the above, peak exercise cardiac output appears to be a
major determinant of peak exercise capacity in patients with
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and this in turn
appears to be dependent primarily on stroke volume augmentation, which
is determined by exercise diastolic filling
characteristics. In these patients with hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy, PCWP was higher both at rest and on
exercise compared with previous studies in normal subjects, which is
almost certainly a reflection of diastolic dysfunction.
However, exercise capacity was unrelated to PCWP.
Study Limitations
The patients in the invasive hemodynamic
study
were selected from 35 consecutive patients with hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy. Of these, 1 was excluded because of
severe mitral regurgitation, 1 because it was
considered unwise to withdraw ß-blockers, 2 because of
significant respiratory disease, 2 because of atrial fibrillation, and
6 because of refusal to undergo the study. There was therefore some
selection bias, but we believe that our results would still be relevant
to the majority of patients with this disease, since only a minority
were excluded because they were potentially more severely affected than
the rest of the study group. In the exercise diastolic
filling study, 4 patients were excluded because of significant
respiratory disease, 4 because of atrial fibrillation, and 2 because of
refusal to undergo the study.
Our exercise data are consistent with the patient group's being sedentary and unconditioned. Training increases the ability to increase stroke volume. Thus, deconditioning may have contributed to some degree to the inability to increase stroke volume appropriately in these patients, although the cardiomyopathic process appears likely to be much more important.
In 10 patients, peak exercise diastolic filling and stroke volume were not analyzable because of cavity obliteration. These patients all had resting left ventricular outflow tract gradients >40 mm Hg. Thus, the diastolic filling data may not be applicable to patients with severe outflow tract gradients. Our study demonstrates a relation between exercise capacity and a measure of diastolic filling on exercise, ie, time to peak filling, rather than a measure of diastolic function per se. Assessments of diastolic function would require simultaneous measurement of pressure and volume changes. Magorien et al25 showed a relation between peak filling rate and the active phase of diastolic relaxation (maximum -dP/dT, r=-.85) but not with the passive phase of diastolic filling (chamber stiffness, Kd, r=-.08). Other workers have shown an association between the increased diastolic filling during exercise and a decrease in the time constant of relaxation (tau).26 We do not believe, however, that this caveat in any way negates the clinical importance of our observation of an association between an index of diastolic filling (time to peak filling) characteristics and exercise capacity.
It would have been preferable to perform diastolic filling studies during erect treadmill exercise, but it would have been technically impractical. The exercise technique we used involved a semierect cycle that the patients sat on at an angle of 60° to the horizontal. Although we accept this limitation, our observation of an association between peak exercise time to peak filling and maximal oxygen consumption during erect exercise provides a rationale for the importance of stroke volume augmentation in these patients.
The reliable measurement of diastolic filling rates and time to peak filling depends on having a sufficiently high temporal sampling frequency for each cardiac cycle examined—ie, high temporal resolution. The number of frames per synthetic cardiac cycle is a compromise between the requirement for adequate temporal resolution on one hand and the requirement for sufficient counts per frame for statistical precision on the other. Bacharach et al10 showed that, for reproducible measurements of peak filling rate in normal individuals, the frame duration should not exceed 50 ms at rest or 20 ms with exercise. However, using a fixed frame duration throughout an exercise protocol implies that, as heart rate increases with exercise, temporal resolution will become coarser. In the present study, the fixed frame rate we used ensured that temporal resolution remained constant regardless of heart rate, while statistical precision remained comparable, since the shorter frame duration with increasing heart rates was compensated for by the greater number of cardiac cycles accumulated during each 4-minute acquisition period.
Conclusions
In patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy,
peak exercise heart rate achieved is less than predicted, but the heart
rate deficit is only mild. Whereas in normal subjects there is a
moderate relation between peak exercise heart rate and maximum
oxygen consumption and in patients with heart failure there is a strong
relation, in patients with hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy this is not so. Our data suggest
that this is a reflection of the underlying diastolic
filling characteristics. Stroke volume is the major determinant of peak
exercise capacity, and although this may be determined in part by
increased ejection fraction, our data demonstrate that increased
diastolic filling is the most important determinant of
stroke volume augmentation and hence peak exercise capacity. This is
also supported by the correlation between peak exercise time to peak
filling and O2max.
Received June 14, 1993; revision received June 29, 1995; accepted July 7, 1995.
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