The Safety of Early Exercise Stress Test after Coronary Intervention

Objective: To investigate the safety of early symptom limited exercise stress test (GXT) performed within 10 days after coronary intervention in acute coronary syndrome patients. Method: Forty-six patients with acute coronary syndrome including unstable angina (UA) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were recruited. All of them performed GXT within 10 days after coronary intervention and received cardiac rehabilitation for 6 weeks. Results: Mean age of the patients was 57.6 +/- 9.8 years (unstable angina 26 patients, acute myocardial infarction 23 patients). The number of the patients complained of cardiac events during GXT was 8 (16%); chest pain (3), ischemic changes on electrocardiogram (2) and hemodynamic instability (3). However, none of them showed any major adverse cardiac events such as acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Major cause of termination of GXT was patient's request such as dyspnea, fatigue, and musculoskeletal pain. After early GXT, there was no significant difference between two groups in all variables (p> 0.05). Conclusion: Early GXT was safe in acute coronary syndrome patients and did not show any significant difference between UA patients and AMI patients.