INDUCTION OF CARDIAC ARRHYTHMIAS DURING BICYCLE ERGOMETRY IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF CORONARY HEART DISEASE

Highlights

The frequency of arrhythmias during bicycle ergometry was compared in patients with and without coronary heart disease. Their diagnostic significance in diagnosing this disease was analyzed separately for men and women.

Abstract
Aim. To determine the diagnostic significance of exercise-induced cardiac arrhythmias (CAs) during bicycle ergometry (BEM) in patients with suspected coronary heart disease (CHD).

Methods. For the retrospective study, 384 case histories of patients discharged from the cardiology department between 2011 and 2020 were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data of BEM and coronary angiography were studied. The correlation between the occurrence of induction of different types of CAs during BEM and the presence of coronary artery blood flow abnormalities was investigated. Indicators of the diagnostic significance of CAs in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease, such as sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) results, were determined separately for men and women. The statistical significance of the results was assessed.

Results. Statistically significant specificity and PPV for the induction of ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) without taking into account rare single monomorphic ventricular extrasystoles (VEs) in the diagnosis of CHD in men were 83.5% and 73.1%, respectively. The same indicators for VAs, excluding all single VEs, were 95.3% and 82.6% in men.

Conclusion. The induction of VAs in men on BEM, with the exception of rare single monomorphic VEs, is diagnostically significant in the detection of CHD and allows us to qualify the result of BEM as “positive”. The induction of other CAs on BEM has not shown diagnostic significance in the detection of CHD.

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