Health-related physical function and quality of well-being prior to and following cardiomyoplasty. A preliminary report.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to obtain preliminary data regarding the effects of cardiomyoplasty on health-related physical function and quality of well-being. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Quasi-experimental with repeated measures. Patients were interviewed prior to surgery, with post-surgical follow-up interviews at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months. SETTING: Interviews were usually conducted by telephone with patients who were at home at the time of data collection. PATIENTS OR PARTICIPANTS: Four patients receiving cardiomyoplasty at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. INTERVENTIONS: Patients received cardiomyoplasty between November 1992 and April 1993. Cardiomyoplasty using the right latissimus dorsi muscle was performed on the first patient. A left muscle-wrap was performed on the subsequent three patients. MEASURES: Self-reported function and well-being were measured using the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), the Quality of Well-Being Scale (QWB), and the Medical Outcome Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). RESULTS: Patient responses on the SF-36 demonstrated general improvement in cardiomyoplasty survivors. Results on the QWB and SIP are mixed. CONCLUSIONS: Due to the small, incomplete sample and lack of any comparison group, extreme caution must be used in drawing any clinical conclusions from this preliminary data. Future randomized clinical trials of cardiomyoplasty need to include quality of life and health-related physical function as dependent variables. Further psychometric study is necessary which compares the usefulness of these various methods for assessing the value of outcomes for patients with end-stage heart disease.