TREADMILL STRESS TESTING IN EVALUATION OF AORTOCORONARY BYPASS SURGERY
Graded exercise treadmill tests were performed on 34 patients who had saphenous vein bypass surgery for coronary artery disease. A group of 21 patients with stable angina underwent both pre- and post-operative exercise stress testing. Thirteen patients with unstable angina were given only the postoperative tests. A marked improvement was noted in (1) symptoms of chest pain ―82% of patients had no chest pain on postoperative stress testing―. (2) ECG abnormalities produced by the exercise―75% of patients had normal exercise ECG postoperatively―. (3) functional capacity (Metlevel)―from 4.1±1.5 in stable angina group preoperatively to 7.5 ±2.4 in the same group (p< 0.001) and 7.2 ±2.5 in unstable angina group postoperatively―and (4) Cardiac reserve (double product)―from 20.0 ± 4.7 ×lO3 in stable angina group preoperatively to 27.5±5.4×l03 in the same group (p< 0.001) and 27.8±5.8×l03 in unstable angina group postoperatively.
