Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical effect of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) combined with cardiac rehabilitation (CR) training in the treatment of chronic heart failure (CHF). Methods A total of 164 patients with CHF who were hospitalized and underwent CR training in Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Tongzhou People’s Hospital, from June 2020 to June 2021 were enrolled as subjects, and they were randomly divided into control group and experimental group, with 82 patients in each group. The patients in the control group received conventional CR training, and those in the experimental group received EECP in addition to the treatment in the control group. Results After treatment, both groups had a significant increase in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and a significant reduction in stroke volume (SV) (all P<0.05), and the experimental group had a significantly higher LVEF and a significantly lower SV compared with the control group (both P <0.05). After treatment, both groups had a significant increase in forced vital capacity and a significant reduction in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (all P <0.05), and there were no significant differences in these indicators between the two groups after treatment (both P >0.05). After treatment, both groups had significant increases in peak oxygen uptake (PeakVO₂) and anaerobic threshold (AT) (all P <0.05), and the experimental group had significantly higher PeakVO₂ and AT than the control group (both P <0.05). Conclusion EECP combined with CR training has a better clinical effect than CR training alone in improving the cardiac function and exercise tolerance of patients with CHF.

Key words: Enhanced external counterpulsation, Cardiac rehabilitation, Chronic heart failure