The diagnostic value of cardiac axis deviation and ventricular dimension in response to physiotherapeutic exercise procedures SalemNaguib M.A. 2013 Physiotherapeutic treatment using passive and active exercise was used to study changes in cardiac axis deviation and ventricular dimension in both clinical cardiac patients and nomal healthy people. These changes appeared to be significantly different between these two groups of people suggesting a simple diagnostic method by which to identify clinical cases. Since different types of ·physiotherapeutic exercise result in different changes in the cardiac axis deviation and in ventricular dimension it can also be used to guide and evaluate the progress of cardiac patients undergoing physiotherapeutic programs. Tests were made on 27 normal subjects as a controlled group and 50 cardiac patients as the examined experimental group. The results showed that the cardiac axis deviation in normal people changes consistently and usually between 60 and 70 degrees. Coronary patients showed relative changes of between +10 and -40 degrees and rheumatic heart disease patients showed changes of between +30 and +140 degrees. Passive exercise caused left axis deviation in both normal people and cardiac patients but the effect was greater in patients. Active exercise caused right axis deviation in nromal people but left axis deviation in cardiac patients. Right ventricular dimension decreased in both passive and active exercise in normal people and cardiac patients but much more in the patients. Left ventricular dimension decreased in normal people and increased in cardiac patients in both types of exercises. The important application of this work is the design and evaluation of appropriate therapeutic procedures for individual cardiac patients undergoing treatment in physical therapy departments. An important advantage is to be able to select between passive and active therapeutic exercise routines in the earliest stages of cardiac malfunction. Passive routines can be used so much more safely on severe cardiac cases and yet can be seen to give circulatory training to the cardiovascular system. This work also shows the need to train physical therapists to use electrocardiography and echocardiography in their evaluation of physiotherapeutic programs for cardiac patients.