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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2006;296:642-643.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

A new study suggests that physicians should give more consideration to gender when deciding whether to recommend heart transplantation or mechanical ventricular assistance for patients with heart failure.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia said their study of 594 ambulatory heart failure patients found that women undergoing stress testing had lower peak exercise oxygen consumption (VO₂) than did men, but women had better survival rates at all levels of exercise capacity. The difference is important because physicians currently use a single VO₂ cutoff level as a key determinant when considering a patient for transplantation. The results, published in June in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, suggest that different cutoff levels based on gender may be appropriate when considering transplantation of scarce donor hearts (Elmariah S et al. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006;47:2237-2242).

New research suggests that VO2stress testing thresholds, used . . . [Full Text of this Article]

IMPORTANT FINDINGS