Exercise Testing (6-minute walk / shuttle walking test)

There are a number of different types of exercise tests that the patient may be required to perform. They can help determine if there is reduced exercise tolerance and sometimes provides clues as to the cause of the patient's symptoms. In PH exercise testing is often used as a measure of an individual’s “exercise capacity”. Some patients are asked to walk on a treadmill whilst wearing a mask over their mouth and nose. This allows the doctors to work out how efficiently the patient uses oxygen and also tell the doctor how hard the patient’s heart and lungs will allow them to work. An exercise test can help detect the presence and severity of coronary artery disease and other disorders of the heart.

The 6-minute walk or shuttle walk test is not really a specific diagnostic test; however, alongside a thorough history and physical examination, it can help to identify the exercise capacity and to determine the functional status of the individual.

Exercise tests such as the “6-minute walk test” simply require the patient to walk as far as they can up and down a corridor in 6 minutes. The “shuttle walking test” is similar but requires the patient to walk up and down a 10 metre course at increasingly faster speeds until they get too breathless to continue.

During these tests patients are often required to wear a monitor on their finger or earlobe to measure the amount of oxygen in their blood. In patients with PH, oxygen levels can fall well below normal without the patient becoming too breathless.

These tests give the doctors an idea of how severe the disease is. They can also be a good way of measuring how effective drug treatments are.