High-intensity aerobic interval training in a patient with stable angina pectoris.

Recently, high-intensity aerobic interval training was shown to be more effective than continuous moderate-intensity exercise for improving maximal aerobic capacity and endurance in patients with coronary heart disease. However, patients with exercise-induced ischemia were not included in those studies. We present the acute cardiopulmonary responses of a 67-yr-old man with stable angina pectoris during a 34-min session of high-intensity aerobic interval training. Exercise was well tolerated with neither significant arrhythmia nor elevation of cardiac troponin-T. We observed a complete disappearance of symptoms and signs of myocardial ischemia after 24 mins of exercise. This observation is similar to the warm-up angina phenomenon, an adaptation to myocardial ischemia that remains poorly understood. We conclude that high-intensity aerobic interval training is a promising mode of training for patients with stable coronary heart disease that should also be investigated further in patients with exercise-induced ischemia.