Articles © The authors | Journal compilation © Cardiol Res and Elmer Press ™ | www.cardiologyres.org Exercise Tolerance and the Post Exercise Diastolic Filling Pattern in Patients With the Resting Impaired Relaxation

Background: In patients with normal LV systolic function, cardiac output increases with exercise mediated by increased stroke volume early in exercise and an increase in heart rate later in exercise. De-spite normal LV systolic function, patients who display an impaired relaxation pattern may have a reduced exercise tolerance. We hy-pothesized that the resting impaired relaxation pattern that persists during exercise results in reduced LV fi lling volume and reduced exercise tolerance. Methods: We evaluated consecutive exercise echocardiograms performed at Harper Hospital from 1998-2000 for patients with sinus rhythm, normal resting wall motion and ejection fraction (> 55%), evidence of resting impaired relaxation, and a negative exercise echocardiogram. There were 49 patients fi tting the above criteria who were compared with a group of age and sex matche