Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) consists of 3 phases, namely, Phase I (from admission to return-to-home), Phase II (from return-to-home to return-to-work), and Phase III (from return-to-work to the end of one's days). Because of the recent progress in coronary reperfusion therapy and the management of acute coronary syndrome, the hospital stay for Phase I CR has been shortened so that the deconditioning is slight. With shorter stays, however, the opportunity to counsel patients about risk reduction and exercise is diminished. Therefore, the necessity of Phase II CR is getting higher. A comprehensive Phase II CR has been shown to improve exercise capacity, improve coronary atherosclerosis and circulation, reduce cardiovascular risk and mortality and improve quality of life. CR is effective not only in patients with uncomplicated myocardial infarction but also in patients with complications of myocardial infarction including residual myocardial ischemia, heart failure, and in elderly patients and cardiac transplantation patients. Many of these categories of patients were initially arbitrarily excluded from exercise rehabilitation regimens. Doctors and patients need to be enlightened on the significance of CR and CR facilities and staff need to be enriched. Furthermore, an additional challenge will be to select, develop, and provide attractive and appropriate rehabilitation programs and systems for individual cardiac patients; this includes tailoring the delivery method of these services. The selection strategy should incorporate both the recommendations of staff and patient preferences and should be designed to facilitate progressive independence in CR and long-term comprehensive care.
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