Objective: To assess whether exercise capacity is related to left atrial dimension (LAD) in patients with biventricular endomyocardial fibrosis.
Methods: This study comprised 38 patients in sinus rhythm, with a mean age of 37.5 +/- 11.5 years (range, 11 to 59 years), 25 of whom were women. They were divided into 2 groups according to the NYHA functional class on hospital admission as follows: group A (12 patients) and group B (26 patients). All patients underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing to determine their maximum oxygen consumption (VO2 max), and their left atrial dimension was determined on echocardiography.
Results: The VO2max values for groups A and B were 21.8 +/- 4.8 mL.kg(-1).min(-1) and 13.7 +/- 3.5 mL.kg(-1).min(-1), respectively, and the left atrial dimensions were 3.7 +/- 0.7 cm and 4.4 +/- 0.7 cm for groups A and B, respectively. A significant and inverse correlation was found between VO2max and LAD in the groups studied.
Conclusion: The increase in left atrial dimension is associated with impairment in exercise capacity in patients with endomyocardial fibrosis. Our findings support the use of left atrial dimension to estimate a more complex and difficult to assess index of functional capacity, such as VO2max.