Fujiwara, Takayuki; The University of Tokyo Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Amiya, Eisuke; Takahashi, Masao; Nakayama, Atsuko; Konishi, Yuto; Taya, Masanobu;
Hyodo, Kanako; Takayama, Naoko; Komuro, Issei; Takeda, Norihiko.

Physiological Reports. 14(4):e70768, 2026 Feb.

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) improves exercise capacity, but frequent
cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is impractical. The AESCULON mini
enables non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring, though its role in CR remains
unclear. Eleven patients (6 myocardial infarction, 3 angina pectoris, 2
dilated cardiomyopathy) undergoing outpatient CR at the University of
Tokyo Hospital were studied. Hemodynamics were measured using the AESCULON
mini before and after 20 min of aerobic exercise at the anaerobic
threshold. CPET and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) were assessed within 2
weeks. Stroke volume, cardiac output, and cardiac index tended to
increase, and thoracic fluid content (TFC) decreased post-exercise. TFC
before (r = 0.767, p = 0.006) and after (r = 0.711, p = 0.014) correlated
with BNP. Changes in stroke volume and cardiac output correlated with peak
VO2, percent predicted peak VO2, and DELTAVO2/DELTAWR. Patients with
increased cardiac output during exercise had higher peak VO2 and
DELTAVO2/DELTAWR. Non-invasive hemodynamic data from the AESCULON mini
correlated with BNP and exercise capacity, suggesting its usefulness for
detecting heart failure progression and estimating exercise capacity in
CR.