JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

There are no reports regarding the efficacy of home-based cardiac tele-rehabilitation (hbTR) or its efficacy in comparison to standard cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in patients who have undergone transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).

Objective:

We aimed to investigate the efficacy of hbTR in patients who had undergone TAVI.

Methods:

This single-center, prospective study introduced hbTR to post-TAVI patients and the efficacy outcomes of the rehabilitation method were compared to a historical control cohort. Patients who underwent TAVI before hospital discharge were included. In the first two weeks after TAVI, patients underwent outpatient CR and were trained using tele-rehabilitation systems. Thereafter, patients underwent hbTR twice a week for 12 weeks. The control group, comprising six patients, performed standard outpatient CR at least once a week for 12–16 weeks. Efficacy was assessed using peak oxygen uptake (peak VO2) prior to and after CR.

Results:

Eleven patients were included in the hbTR group. All patients underwent 24 hbTR sessions during the 12-week training period, and no adverse events were observed. The mean age of the hbTR and control groups was 80.4±6.0 and 79.0±3.9 years, respectively. In the hbTR group, pre- and post-peak VO2 were 12.0±1.7 mL/min/kg and 14.3±2.7 mL/min/kg (P=.03), respectively. Peak VO2 changes in the hbTR and control groups were 2.4±1.4 mL/min/kg and 1.3±5.0 mL/min/kg (P=.64), respectively.

Conclusions:

Home-based cardiac tele-rehabilitation is a safe outpatient rehabilitation method. Its efficacy is not inferior to that of standard cardiac rehabilitation in patients who have undergone TAVI.