The clinical indications for exercise testing as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in the
assessment of patients with ischemic heart disease have gradually evolved since
Master introduced the two-step exercise test in 1929 (1). New information from
correlations between electrocardiographic and angiocardiographic data, the use of
exercise test results for prognostic stratification in patient subsets and the role of
other non-invasive methods which supplement the information obtained from
exercise testing have markedly enhanced the clinical utility of the test.
Exercise testing is currently most useful in the evaluation of patients in whom the
origin of their chest pain must be elucidated, in patients with ischemic heart disease
in whom the prognosi
