A new functional indoor ramp walk test among stable perioperative valve replacement patients – An observational crossover study

BACKGROUND : Postcardiac valve replacement patients face difficulty in their day-to-day functional activities, especially during climbing stairs and walking uphill or on a ramp in society. Assessing the uphill walking capacity, there is a dearth of functional stress test over routinely used six-min walk test (6MWT). Therefore, a new three-min steep ramp walk test (3MRWT) was constructed to meet the demands similar to an uphill walk and may provide more functional stress than routinely used 6MWT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Observational crossover study was conducted with 30 stable postoperative either mitral or aortic or double valve replacement patients, who were as inpatients in the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Multispecialty Medical College Hospital, Coimbatore, India. The participants were assigned to walk 3MRWT and 6MWT simultaneously on the 5th postoperative day. RESULTS: The results revealed that the mean distance covered in 6MRWT was 273.4 ± 45.06 m, and in 3MWT, it was 149.7 ± 37.8 m. A highly positive correlation was observed between 3MRWT and 6MWT distance covered by the patients with valve replacement (r = 0.834). CONCLUSION: The study shows that 3MRWT is valid over routinely available 6MWT and may provide higher functional stress in a shorter duration than later in valvular replacement patients in assessing the maximal functional capacity during discharge.