Physical rehabilitation after percutaneous coronary intervention: new perspectives of rehabilitation programme integration into ambulatory healthcare system

Abstract

Aim. To study the effectiveness of ambulatory rehabilitation and prevention programmes in patients after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), with the use of computerized medical decision support system (MDSS) facilitating the choice of controlled physical training (CPT) regimen and the delivery of adequate recommendations on physical activity (PA) levels.
Material and methods. This 12-month study included 194 patients (124 men and 70 women; mean age 53,5±3,6 years) with stable coronary heart disease (CHD), who underwent PCI (coronary angioplasty or coronary stenting). The CPT regimen was chosen, using the computerized MDSS. To perform the analysis of standard medical decisions, 25 doctors participated in a questionnaire survey.
Results. The patients from the CPT group, demonstrated a significant increase in exercise capacity (EC) and mean exercise duration, an improvement in quality of life (QoL), and good pharmaceutical therapy compliance throughout the rehabilitation period. As shown by the questionnaire survey data, standard medical decisions were based, on average, on three clinical parameters; methodological errors were the most prevalent ones.
Conclusion. The use of rehabilitation programmes, based on computerized MDSS, in ambulatory post-PCI patients ensures not only high effectiveness of rehabilitation and prevention measures, but also safety of physical training.