Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation

Despite the favourable effects of new therapeutic approaches during the acute phase of cardiac diseases and consequent favourable short-term outcomes, post-acute management and long term prognosis still remain unsatisfactory. Cardiac rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary treatment with established beneficial effects for the vast majority of cardiac patients and universally considered an important aspect of secondary prevention. Although it has been shown to reduce both morbidity and mortality and it is a class I recommendation in the guidelines, its use remains still rather limited in Europe and in the rest of the world. The aim of this PhD research was to examine some aspects still little known, or unknown at all, in this field. In particular, the research aimed to evaluate safety and efficacy of a structured, exercise-based, cardiac rehabilitation in specific cohorts of patients: after transcatheter aortic valve implantation, after left ventricular assist device implantation, and early after an acute myocardial infarction in high risk subjects