Exercise testing has become an integral component of the management of patients with chronic heart failure. Exercise and heart failure can be seen to have a dynamic interrelationship, in which exercise can provide important diagnostic information, yet can also be used to assess the effectiveness of treatment regimes, and as a therapeutic intervention in itself. This is the first book that directly and comprehensively addresses the issues involving exercise patients with heart failure and heart transplants. It presents a unique and comprehensive overview of epidemiological, physiological and clinical aspects of this relationship. The text covers the physiology of myocardial dysfunction, the transplanted heart, and ventricular assist devices as they affect exercise capacity and responses during exercise and exertion. It goes on to discuss in more depth the exercise testing of patients, including the methods and utility of ventilatory gas analysis, the physiologic and clinical effects of exercise training on these patients, and ecommended exercise training programs This text, part of the American Heart Association Monograph Series, provides a cogent and comprehensive overview of its topic that should be of practical value to a broad range of physicians, exercise physiologists and consultants working in this field.