Andonian BJ; Hardy N; Bendelac A; Polys N; Kraus WE

Current Sports Medicine Reports. 20(10):545-552, 2021 Oct 01.
VI 1

ABSTRACT: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is a dynamic clinical
tool for determining the cause for a person’s exercise limitation. CPET
provides clinicians with fundamental knowledge of the coupling of external
to internal respiration (oxygen and carbon dioxide) during exercise.
Subtle perturbations in CPET parameters can differentiate exercise
responses among individual patients and disease states. However, perhaps
because of the challenges in interpretation given the amount and
complexity of data obtained, CPET is underused. In this article, we review
fundamental concepts in CPET data interpretation and visualization. We
also discuss future directions for how to best use CPET results to guide
clinical care. Finally, we share a novel three-dimensional graphical
platform for CPET data that simplifies conceptualization of organ
system-specific (cardiac, pulmonary, and skeletal muscle) exercise
limitations. Our goal is to make CPET testing more accessible to the
general medical provider and make the test of greater use in the medical
toolbox.