Respiratory capacity does influence exercise capacity in the population with spinal cord injury and may play an important role in delimiting aerobic exercise capacity.

BackgroundTreatment with stem cells in several cardiomyopathies may be related to the increase in arrhythmias.ObjectivesTo determine whether intracoronary injection of stem cells in patients with Chagas cardiomyopathy is associated with increased incidence of ventricular arrhythmias, compared to the Control Group.MethodsA retrospective cohort study that evaluated the medical records of 60 patients who participated in a previous cross-sectional study. The following data were collected: age, gender, drugs used and Holter variables that demonstrated the presence of arrhythmias. Holter was performed in four stages: randomization, 2, 6 and 12 months segments. The Control Group received medical treatment and intracoronary injection of placebo and the Study Group had drug treatment and autologous stem cell implant.ResultsThere was no difference between Control Group and Study Group when analyzing the arrhythmia criteria. In the intra-group analysis, significant difference was found between the Holter tests of the Study Group for the variable total ventricular premature beats when compared with baseline, with p = 0.014 between Holter at randomization and Holter at 2 months, p = 0.004 between Holter at randomization and Holter at 6 months, and p = 0.014 between Holter at randomization and Holter at 12 months. The variable non-sustained ventricular tachycardia between Holter at randomization and Holter at 6 months showed p = 0.036.ConclusionThe intracoronary injection of stem cells did not increase the incidence of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with Chagas cardiomyopathy compared to the Control Group.