title: Left ventricular performance and ultrasonic myocardial quantitative reflectivity in endurance senior athletes: an echocardiographic study.
abstract: Young elite athletes often show left ventricular hypertrophy, but normal values of quantitatively evaluated myocardial wall reflectivity. The aim of this study is to assess the acoustic pattern of ventricular wall reflectivity, as well as of systolic and diastolic function, in older endurance runners with increased left ventricular mass. For this purpose, 12 elite, senior isotonic athletes in full training and 11 normal, age-matched controls with sedentary life styles were studied. The following parameters were measured with a commercially available 2D echo-Doppler machine: end-diastolic diameter, diastolic septum thickness, left ventricular mass index, ejection fraction (by Teicholtz rule); peak E, peak A, E/A ratio, acceleration and deceleration time of mitral inflow velocity and isovolumic relaxation time. On-line radio frequency analysis was also performed to obtain quantitative operator-independent measurements of the integrated backscatter signal of the ventricular septum and the posterior wall. The integrated values of the radiofrequency signals were normalized for the pericardial interface and expressed in percent (% 2D-IB). In spite of the greater left ventricular mass in athletes versus normal controls (319 +/- 81 vs 225 +/- 63 g.m-2, P < 0.0005), there were no significant intergroup differences as regards end-diastolic diameter (50.7 +/- 5.1 vs 48.1 +/- 5.2 mm, P = ns), ejection fraction (75.5 +/- 9.3 vs 71.8 +/- 9.1%, P = ns), and 2D-IB of septum (22.2 +/- 6.9 vs 22.4 +/- 7.0, P = ns) and posterior wall (12.5 +/- 5.6 vs 13.1 +/- 2.8, P = ns).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: 2nd Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Di Bello
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lattanzi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Picano
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Talarico
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Caputo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Muro
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Santoro
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lunardi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Distante
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giusti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004452:Echocardiography; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D006346:Heart Septum / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness; D013177:Sports; D016276:Ventricular Function; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*