CASE REPORT

Haemodynamics during a complete exercise induced atrioventricular block

A Crisafulli, F Melis, A C Lai, V Orrù, C Lai and A Concu

Interdepartmental Centre for Sports Environments and Technologies, University of Cagliari, Italy

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Concu, Dipartimento di Biochimica e Fisiologia Umana, Via Porcell 4, 09124 Cagliari, Italy;
concu{at}unica.it

The case is reported of an athlete who, during an exercise test, had a complete atrioventricular block without symptoms of cardiac output failure. Heart rate, stroke index, cardiac index, and myocardial contractility were monitored during the episode by an impedance cardiograph. The most important findings of this report are the continuous increase in stroke index, which compensated for the lack of heart rate response, and the normal cardiac index values achieved during the exercise. This stroke index response was mainly due to an increase in myocardial contractility.

Keywords: heart block; exercise; impedance cardiography; stroke volume; myocardial contractility

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