METHODOLOGICAL AND CLINICAL COMPARISON OF 4 DIFFERENT CARDIOPULMONARYEXERCISE TESTING (CPX) SYSTEMS

The clinician who uses cardio-pulmonary exercise testing (CPX) systems relies on the technical informations from the device producers. In th is paper, the practicability, the accuracy and the safety of four diff erent, available CPX systems are compared in the clinical area, using clinically orientated criteria. The exercise tests were performed in h ealthy subjects, in patients with cardiac and/or pulmonary disease as well as in young or old people. The comparison study showed, that ther e were partially large differences in device design and measurement ac curacy. Furthermore, our investigation demonstrated that beneath repet itive calibrations of the CPX systems a frequent validation of the dev ices by means of a metabolic simulator is necessary. Problems in calib ration can be caused by an inadequate performance or by unclean calibr ation gases. Problems in validation can be due to incompatibility of t he CPX device and the validator. The comparison study of the four diff erent systems showed that in the future standards for CPX testing shou ld be defined.