BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF CARDIAC REHABILITATION ON MOROCCAN PATIENTS AFTER VALVULAR SURGERY

Introduction : Valvular disease is common in Morocco, frequently followed by a heart surgery. Cardiac rehabilitation can improve functional and cardio-respiratory capacities after valve surgery, joining training sessions, therapeutic education, and optimization. The present study features the results in Moroccan patients. The objective of the study is to confirm the hypothesis that cardiac rehabilitation is beneficial after valvular surgery. Methods : Its a retrospectivestudy made between November 2017 and January 2020 including40 patients after valvular surgery incardiac rehabilitation unit of cardiology centerof Mohamed V Military Hospital.All of them had aclinical examination, laboratory test, ECG, echocardiography, 6 minuteswalk test and test with VO2 max. Results :The average age was 45.6 ± 12.3 years with a male predominance.Regarding cardiovascular risk factors, we found sedentary lifestyle, smoking, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and diabetes.Echocardiography showed a preservedejection fraction (EF = 55.69 % ± 11.02 %).After 20 cardiac rehabilitation sessions, all patients improved their effort capacities.They increased the distance covered in6-minutes walk test from 500 to 545.7m, andstress test parameters from 82.5 ± 32.93 W to 100.2 ± 36.8 W for the load, from 32 ± 8.24 to 21.7 ± 9.8 ml/kg/min for the VO2 max and the training heart rate decreased from 111.5 bpm to 107.6 bpm (beats per minute). Conclusion :This study demonstrated that cardiac rehabilitation program is clearly beneficial in patients after valvular surgery by theimprovement of their functional and cardio-respiratory capacities.