Clinical exercise stress testing. Safety and performance guidelines. The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand

Abstract

Clinical exercise testing has wide application in medicine, including the assessment of functional capacity, ventilatory function, gas exchange, muscle function, and endocrine and metabolic function, and as a test for claudication in peripheral vascular disease. The major use of exercise testing, however, is as a stress test in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. This article outlines the minimum safety and performance guidelines for exercise stress testing with electrocardiography, although many of the safety guidelines are common to other types of exercise tests, particularly exercise stress scintigraphy and echocardiography.