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Exercise Helps Heart Failure Patients

Posted on: Thursday, 8 November 2007, 12:00 CST

Exercise increases the growth of new muscle cells and blood vessels in the weakened muscles of people with heart failure, a U.S. study found.

Study co-author Dr. Axel Linke of the University of Leipzig, Germany, says in chronic heart failure, the heart can't pump enough blood to other organs and they have cellular-level changes in their muscles that make them weaker.

In one study, researchers investigated whether exercise training could activate progenitor cells that help muscle repair. Researchers took the biopsies before and after a six-month period in which 25 men with heart failure remained inactive and the other 25 participated in an individualized, physician-supervised endurance exercise program.

The study found levels of progenitor cells stayed the same in the inactive group, but increased by 109 percent in the exercise group.

In a second study, researchers tracked endothelial progenitor cells that are created in bone marrow that help repair damaged blood vessel linings.

Researchers randomly assigned 37 men, average age 65, with severe heart failure to receive either 12 weeks of exercise or remain inactive. The study found no changes in men assigned to the control group, but circulating progenitor cells increased 47 percent in the exercise group.

The finding were presented at the American Heart Association's scientific sessions in Orlando, Fla.

Source: United Press International

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