Ischemic heart disease, perfusion mismatch, and the risk of lethal arrythmias

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Exercise for Chronic Conditions podcast – a podcast for exercise science students, exercise physiologists, and all you exercise nerds out there. I am your host, Dr. Simon Holzapfel. Today we’re taking a closer look at something that’s essential for understanding exercise testing and prescription in patients with ischemic heart disease: perfusion mismatch and how it increases the risk of arrhythmias.

This concept is directly tied to understanding when a stress test should be stopped and how to keep exercise safe. We'll talk about how coronary perfusion works, what happens during a mismatch, and why this matters when you're interpreting ECGs or designing exercise prescriptions.