Exercise Training Attenuates Progressive Decline in Brachial Artery Reactivity in Heart Transplant Recipients

To our knowledge, this is the first prospective, randomized study to investigate the effects of heart transplantation and aerobic exercise on peripheral artery function in the same cohort of heart transplant recipients. Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation increased early in the post-operative period. Aerobic exercise preserved but did not improve brachial artery flow-mediated dilation. Heart transplant recipients who did not participate in supervised exercise showed a progressive decline in brachial artery flow-mediated dilation.