The effects of elective saphenous vein coronary artery bypass surgery on left ventricular ejection fraction were assessed by using exercise first-pass radionu clide angiography in 66 consecutive patients. All patients with left main coro nary artery or concomitant valvular disease were eliminated from the study. Before surgery, 7 patients had normal postexercise left ventricular function (Group 1), 33 had normal resting left ventricular function with an abnormal response to exercise (Group 2), and 26 had an abnormal resting left ventricular ejection fraction with an abnormal response to exercise (Group 3). Following surgery, patients in all three groups had no change in mean resting left ventricu lar ejection fraction; however, patients in Groups 2 and 3 had significant im provement in mean postexercise left ventricular ejection fraction (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0054 respectively), whereas patients in Group 1 did not. Previous studies reported improvement in postexercise ejection fraction in patients with reduced resting left ventricular function and with an ischemic response to exer cise (Group 3). But this is the first study to confirm improvement in postexercise function in patients with normal resting function and an ischemic response to exercise (Group 2).
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