Comparison of the Asymptomatic Cardiac Ischemia Pilot and modified Asymptomatic Cardiac Ischemia Pilot versus Bruce and Cornell exercise protocols

The Asymptomatic Cardiac Ischemia Pilot (ACIP) and modified ACIP treadmill exercise protocols were developed to test patients with coronary artery disease and to linearly increase work load between stages. The physiologic changes that occurred with ACIP and modified ACIP were compared to those with the Bruce and Cornell protocols in 28 normal subjects and 16 men with coronary artery disease. The exercise protocols were randomly assigned over 2 days, and gas exchange data were obtained continuously with each test. In normal subjects, the peak heart rate, systolic blood pressure, peak oxygen consumption rate ([VO.sub.2]) and minute ventilation were similar for the 4 protocols tested, with exercise time shortest for the Bruce protocol in comparison with the ACIP, modified ACIP and Cornell protocols (10.2 [+ or -] 3.1 vs 13.4 [+ or -] 4.9, 13.9 [+ or -] 4.5, and 15.0 [+ or -] 4.2 minutes, respectively; p