Left Atrial Function as a Reliable Predictor of Exercise Capacity in Patients With Recent Myocardial Infarction

To examine the relation between left atrial (LA) function and exercise performance. Retrospective study at a referral cardiopulmonary exercise laboratory in a university hospital. Forty-one patients with recent myocardial infarction. M-mode echocardiography and cardiopulmonary exercise testing combined with radionuclide ventriculography. Hemodynamic measurements were obtained at rest and peak exercise. LA fractional shortening at rest was used as an index of global LA function. LA fractional shortening had fair correlations with peak oxygen consumption (r=0.67, p