Six-Minute Walk Test

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing may be useful in the evaluation of patients with unexplained dyspnea since there is a characteristic pattern of ventilatory and circulatory response in the presence of pulmonary vascular disease. However, sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension are unknown. Moreover, patients often are too severly ill to perform maximal stress testing (20, 21). Therefore, exercise testing is not considered essential in the evaluation of patients with pulmonary hypertension (4).

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing may be useful in the evaluation of patients with unexplained dyspnea since there is a characteristic pattern of ventilatory and circulatory response in the presence of pulmonary vascular disease. However, sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension are unknown. Moreover, patients often are too severly ill to perform maximal stress testing (20, 21). Therefore, exercise testing is not considered essential in the evaluation of patients with pulmonary hypertension (4).

The method of choice for the measurement of the exercise capacity is the six-minute walk test (22). It correlates well with maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing and the severity of NYHA functional class. The distance walked in six minutes has a strong independent association with mortality in patients with PPH (20).

References

Video on 6-min walk test
Physicians in Switzerland may order a video (on CD/DVD) with detailed information on the 6-min walk test free of charge at: Actelion Switzerland, requestCH@actelion.com

The video is based on the American Thoracic Society (ATS) guidelines for the 6-min walk test. It has been reviewed by Professor L. Rubin (UCSD) and Professor R. Speich (University Hospital Zürich). We express our thanks and gratitude to the Department of Internal Medicine (University Hospital Zürich) for allowing to film in their facilities. Special thanks to Ursula Treder for her active cooperation.

Have a look at the video's trailer: Trailer (6.3 MB mpg-file)

Original music composed by Carine Perret.

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