Effects of aerobic exercise training in children after the Fontan operation

Exercise capacity and impact of exercise training in patients after a Fontan procedure: A review

“…Minamisawa et al (18) reported a 7% increase in maximal workload and VO 2 max and a 5% increase in exercise time in 11 patients following a 11-to 15-week aerobic exercise training program. Recently, Opocher et al (19) observed a 19% increase in both VO 2 max and oxygen pulse, and enhancement of submaximal heart rate and oxygen pulse pattern after an eight-month aerobic exercise training in 10 Fontan patients. At this point, an important issue needs to be raised regarding the positive impact of exercise training on exercise tolerance in Fontan patients in the previous two studies.…”

“…Some may increase their exercise tolerance during the six years following surgery (16), while other may have a deterioration in their exercise tolerance (17). Deconditioning may contribute to this deterioration because aerobic exercise training has been shown to improve these patients' functional capacity (18)(19)(20)(21). Nevertheless, this long-term decline in exercise tolerance following the procedure may also be related to the disease progression (17) or to the reduced capacity to increase the cardiac output (Q) in response to exercise secondary to the Fontantype circulation, thus limiting the oxygen transport to the periphery (22,23).…”

Exercise prescription for patients with a Fontan circulation: current evidence and future directions

“…Training effects are exercise mode specific with only a small transfer effect to other exercise modalities. 32,33 Opocher et al 34 studied the effects of an eight-month training programme in ten children with a Fontan circulation. Supervised training sessions were held twice a week for the first three weeks (10 sessions) and then once a month for the next four months of the training programme (table 1).…”

Exercise Testing and Training in Children With Congenital Heart Disease

“…In a study of 10 children with Fontan procedures, Opocher et al 79 detected an 11% improvement in peak V O 2 after an 8-month, primarily home-based exercise program. None of these studies was well controlled, however, nor did they provide insights into the mechanisms responsible for the observed improvements.…”