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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Transplant. Feb 24, 2018; 8(1): 1-12
Published online Feb 24, 2018. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v8.i1.1
Importance of physical capacity and the effects of exercise in heart transplant recipients
Marianne Yardley, Lars Gullestad, Kari Nytrøen
Marianne Yardley, Lars Gullestad, Kari Nytrøen, Department of Cardiology, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, Oslo 0424, Norway
Marianne Yardley, Lars Gullestad, Kari Nytrøen, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo 0316, Norway
Author contributions: Gullestad L and Nytrøen K designed the research; Yardley M and Nytrøen K has performed different parts of the research, analyzed the data and drafted the paper; all authors equally contributed to the final analyses, further drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Kari Nytrøen, PhD, Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Cardiology, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, Postbox 4950 Nydalen, Oslo 0424, Norway. kari.nytroen@medisin.uio.no
Telephone: +47-951-89935 Fax: +47-230-73917
Received: November 17, 2017
Peer-review started: November 17, 2017
First decision: November 30, 2017
Revised: December 12, 2017
Accepted: December 28, 2017
Article in press: December 28, 2017
Published online: February 24, 2018
Processing time: 99 Days and 1.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Despite the positive effects of regular exercise after heart transplantation (HTx), HTx recipients’ physical capacity remains subnormal, and a strong association between physical capacity and survival has been demonstrated. Thus, the positive effects of high-intensity interval training (HIT) are a growing field of research, attracting worldwide focus and interest. Although the “HIT-effect” is not fully understood, a possible contributing factor is the increased levels of inflammatory mediators of angiogenesis generated during exercise. More high-quality research is strongly warranted, but ongoing studies already have the potential to change existing guidelines and contribute to a better prognosis for the HTx population.