Table 2.
Criteria for terminating exercise testing in children with CHD.
| (1) Clinical | Symptoms as chest pain, severe headache, dizziness, chills, sustained nausea, inappropriate dyspnoea |
| Signs as sustained pallor, clammy skin, disorientation, inappropriate affect | |
| Patient requests termination of the test | |
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| |
| (2) Electrocardiography | Failure of heart rate to increase with exercise, and extreme fatigue, dizziness, or other symptoms suggestive of insufficient cardiac output |
| Premature ventricular contractions (PVC) with increasing frequency | |
| Ventricular tachycardia (run of >3 PVCs) | |
| Supraventricular tachycardia | |
| ST segmental depression, or elevation, of more than 3 mm | |
| Triggering of atrioventricular (AV) block (2nd degree AV-block type Mobitz or 3rd degree AV block) by exercise | |
| Triggering of QTc lengthening >500 ms | |
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| |
| (3) Blood pressure | Excessive levels (age dependent)—systolic blood pressure >250 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure >125 mmHg |
| Progressive fall in systolic blood pressure with increasing work rate | |
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| |
| (4) Progressive fall in oxygen saturation to <90% or a 10-point drop from resting saturation in a symptomatic patient | |