Ventricular arrhythmia burden during different physical activities in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy: preliminary analysis
Authors: Gabe Beltrami F , Boyle K , Brunckhorst C , Duru F , Spengler C M , Saguner A M 
Published: May 2024

Background

Patients suffering from arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) should avoid intense endurance exercise to reduce the risk of adverse cardiac events and disease progression. While an active lifestyle would be preferable to a sedentary one, evidence for safe levels of physical activity in ARVC, however, is scarce.

Purpose

This study aimed to describe the ventricular arrhythmia burden experienced during exercise and immediate recovery - estimated as the prevalence of premature ventricular contractions (PVC) - of different exercise modalities and intensities on ARVC patients.

Methods

This preliminary analysis includes four (1F, 33±12 yrs, BMI 24±4 kg/m2) ARVC patients harboring a pathogenic plakophilin-2 variant and carrying an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator that performed different exercises while monitored via 12-lead ECG. The order of modalities was randomized and participants instructed to stop when surpassing perceived exertion of 15 on the Borg 6-20 scale. Resistance exercises included two-legged squats and single arm biceps curls (20 repetitions and 2 min duration). Endurance exercise included 5 min of treadmill walking and 3-min cycling bouts at heart rates (HR) of 80, 100 and 120 bpm, as well as cycling at 120 bpm with 2 additional min of active cool down. Blood lactate concentration was assessed after each cycling bout.

Results

No adverse cardiac event or early termination for medical reasons occurred. Figure 1 summarizes the relationship between HR, perceived exertion and PVC burden. During walking (HR 76 ± 8 bpm), PVC burden was 11 ± 6% (range 4 – 18%). Cycling at 82 ± 4 bpm induced a PVC burden of 7 ± 5% (range 3 – 14%), which increased to 13 ± 8% (range 3 – 21%) at 93 ± 2 bpm and increased further to 16 ± 16% (range 7 – 37%) at 105 ± 3 bpm. In all three intensities the PVC burden was higher in the first 3 min of recovery than during the activity itself. Adding a 2-min active cool down increased the PVC burden to 25 ± 16% (range 6 – 45%). 2-legged squats (HR 101 ± 15 bpm) had a PVC burden of 9 ± 12%, which increased to 19 ± 14% at recovery. One arm biceps curls (HR 75 ± 13 bpm) had a PVC burden of 4 ± 3% during the activity and 9 ± 5% during recovery. Perception of effort varied widely when cycling at 80 bpm (range 6 – 12) or 100 bpm (range 8 – 14), but less so at 120 bpm (range 13 – 15). Blood lactate concentration when cycling at 120 bpm ranged between 2.2 and 3.5 mmol/L, typically associated with exercise in the "heavy" intensity domain.

Conclusions

PVC burden was high and seemingly intensity-dependent during exercise and immediate recovery. The wide range of PVC burden for physiological or subjective markers of effort call for personalized recommendations on physical activity. Exercises with small muscle mass such as biceps curls seem to minimize the PVC burden, thus, training the different muscles separately could be an interesting avenue to maintain physical fitness in ARVC patients.