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The meta-analysis showing the benefits of physical training revisited: Taylor examined only the cardiac rehabilitation trials of exercise intervention alone (versus usual care) and demonstrated that cardiac mortality is 28 % reduced and exercise appears to have an independent mortality benefit. An economic evaluation of cardiac rehabilitation: a systematic review of 15 economic evaluations. Evidence to support the cost-effectiveness of supervised cardiac rehabilitation compared with usual care in myocardial infarction and heart failure was identified. But further well-designed trials are required. Pronostic value of some variables determined by exercise testing entering cardiac rehabilitation and after physical training. A beneficial effect of physical training versus usual care on BNP and neurohormones in patients with chronic heart disease. Patients on beta blockers after myocardial infarction: determination of a more accurate training heart frequency derived from the classical Karvonen's formula. The combination of trimetazidine with exercise training provides greater improvements in functional capacity, left ventricular function and the endothelium-dependent relaxation of the brachial artery than exercise training alone in patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy referred for cardiac rehabilitation. Guidelines for resistance exercise after cardiac event: a new paradigm less restrictive, safe and efficient to accelerate patients' return to daily activities. Recommendations for participation in leisure-time physical activity and competitive sports for patients with ischaemic heart disease: the result of consensus among experts from the ESC study group of sports cardiology.

The different components of the cardiovascular system adapt to the stress related to physical training. These adaptations, mainly functional and partly morphological, concern both the heart and the vessels. They play a key role in physical performance improvement, especially in case of endurance sports.

The practice of moderate and regular sports is beneficial for health, and should then always be promoted. The intensive practice of sports, especially for competition, increases the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with heart disease. Facing to a patient with heart disease requiring a certificate of non-contra-indication for sports practice, the cardiologist can sometimes consider himself/herself helpless for managing accurately the situation. Recently, recommendations have been published and summarized herein, in order to guide the final decision.

The symptom-limited exercise test is nowadays the gold standard to assess the exercise tolerance and the effects of different treatments in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). A simpler alternative to this test is the 6-minute walk test. The 6-minute walk test is easy to realize and well-tolerated. Moreover, it is reliable just after one familiarization practice and requires standardization. Indeed, its conduction, which is submitted to some security precautions, can be altered by variation factors. The distance walked during the 6 minutes was the only parameter studied during the test. This parameter could allow judging the CHF severity and prognostic. The analyse of cardiorespiratory parameters has shown that the 6-minute walk test relative intensity is near to the peak individual values. Moreover, the cardiac and ventilatory adaptation of patient during this test depends to his own functional capacity. Lastly, the 6-minute walk test is a submaximal constant-load exercise, which should be performed in complement to the symptom-limited exercise test in cardiac patients.

Positive myocardial and vascular adaptations can be observed in case of a high physical training practice. These clinical, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic patterns constitute the so called "athlete's heart". These adaptations are linked to hemodynamic and neuro-hormonal factors but also for a large part to genetic factors. The "athlete's heart" genetics aspects are many. These genetic factors play a role not only for the absolute physical performance but also for the cardio-vascular responses to physical training. In other words, it is possible to separate the "high-responders" and the "low-responders" to physical training. A high number of genes seem involved in physical performance and in cardiovascular responses. Among them the renin-angiotensin system genes have been presently the most studied, because of their link with cardiac hypertrophy. The impact of the genes involved in the autonomic nervous system regulation begins also to be explored. In the future, several other genetic ways would be studied to really understand all the genetic aspects of the "athlete's heart".

Magnetocardiography (MCG) is a non-invasive technique of studying cardiac electrophysiology activity. It appears that electric and magnetic measurements are not only complementary but provide independent information. Described over 25 years ago, recent technical progress in the field of supraconductivity has provided MCG with real clinical applications. It is still mostly used in research, but its clinical applications are beginning to develop. The most interesting clinical application of the MCG is certainly its capacity to provide a non-invasive anatomical localisation of the arrhythmogenic substrate or of accessory pathways. Nowadays, however, the accuracy of these localisations needs to be improved. When this has been accomplished, MCG could play a significant role in non-invasive cardiological investigation with well-defined clinical applications.

Since its introduction in cardiac failure in 1994, biventricular cardiac stimulation has been widely applied with many clinical trials and the development of new specific technology. The authors present the results observed in the first 125 consecutively implanted patients at the Rennes University Hospital. After a mean follow-up of 22 months, the mortality rate was 40%. The causes of death were sudden death in 42% of patients, progression of cardiac failure in 34% and non-cardiac in 24%. The functional benefits of biventricular cardiac stimulation were seen through significant improvement in HYHA Class, 3.3 +/- 0.5 before implantation to 2.3 +/- 0.8 at the end of follow-up, and by a significant increase of 40% of peak VO2 and of maximal duration of exercise. With the learning curve and development of new technology, the left ventricular catheterisation via a coronary sinus vein, increased from 56% to over 95% during the last two years with an acceptable rate of complications. These results, with the reserve of not being a controlled trial, show the feasibility, safety and efficacy of biventricular cardiac stimulation in terms of functional benefit. Clinical trials are currently underway to assess the impact of this method on morbi-mortality and to assess the concept in association with ventricular defibrillation.