title: [Extreme cardiac hypertrophy in athletes. Morphological and functional echographic study].
abstract: Cardiac hypertrophy is an adaptation phenomenon of the heart as a result of increased hemodynamic load due to intense and prolonged training in athletes. This is mainly seen in endurance athletes. In some cases cardiac hypertrophy can mimic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, specially if hypertrophy is mainly localized at the interventricular septum as compared to the left ventricular free wall. In our study we tried to evaluate the different diagnostic features obtained by echocardiography and clinical examination in a group of 23 athletes with marked hypertrophy (all were participants to the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles) as compared to a group of 11 sportsmen with non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC). Cardiomyopathy was diagnosed on the basis of clinical, echocardiographic and angio-scintigraphic findings. The 23 athletes were selected on the basis of M-Mode and 2D echocardiographic thickness of the interventricular septum (IVS) which was in diastole greater than or equal to 15 mm. They were all asymptomatic, only 4 of the 23 athletes had ECG anomalies due to left axis deviation (LAS) and T wave inversion. Only 4 of the subjects with HC had a family history of HC. ECG changes were the following: T wave inversion (9 subjects), left axis deviation (LAD) (4 subjects), deep Q wave in D2-3, aVF, V5-6 (2 subjects) and low voltage R wave in V5-6 (1 subject). All the athletes had marked hypertrophy of the IVS. Interventricular septum thickness (IVST) was 15.7 +/- 0.6 mm, with a range from 15 to 17.5 mm. Posterior wall thickness (PWT) was 13.7 +/- 1.1 with a range from 12 to 16 mm. The sportsmen with HC had an IVST of 16.2 +/- 3.5 mm and a PWT of 11.3 +/- 1.5 mm. The IVST/PWT ratio was significantly lower (p less than 0.01) in the athletes (1.14 +/- 0.02) when compared to the group with HC (1.4 +/- 0.3). In 7 of the subjects with HC the hypertrophy was mainly localized at the anterolateral segment of the interventricular septum (in 4 of these subjects the hypertrophy involved also the antero-lateral part of the left ventricular free wall).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina dello Sport, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, Roma.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spataro
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pelliccia
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Amici
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caselli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biffi
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000328:Adult; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D002312:Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006337:Heart Murmurs; D006346:Heart Septum / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013178:Sports Medicine; D014463:Ultrasonography
vernacular_title: Ipertrofia cardiaca estrema in atleti. Studio ecocardiografico morfologico e funzionale.