title: Speckle tracking for left ventricle performance in young athletes with bicuspid aortic valve and mild aortic regurgitation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Longitudinal peak systolic strain (LPSS) quantifies regional and global heart function. Few data are available on left ventricle (LV) performance in young athletes with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV), where a pattern of mild aortic insufficiency is relatively frequent, and the ejection fraction (EF) is often normal for a long time. We report the measurement of LV strain in young BAV athletes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three groups (20 athletes with BAV, 20 healthy athletes, and 20 sedentary healthy subjects, all aged 25 +/- 3 years) underwent standard echo examination to evaluate LPSS at the basal and medium-apical segments of the lateral wall (LW) and interventricular septum (IVS) of the LV. LPSS was within the normal range; however, in BAV athletes, the LPSS of the basal segments tended to be lower (S%IVS(basal), -17.7 +/- 2.7; S%LW(basal), -14.2 +/- 2.2; S%IVS(med-apic), -21 +/- 3.5; S%LW(med-apic), -18.8 +/- 4.2), producing a gradient from basal to apical regions. The EF was normal in all subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Young trained BAV athletes have normal LV performance. Nevertheless, these athletes tend to have lower strain than healthy subjects in the LV basal segments. The clinical implications of this finding are uncertain and require further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Non-invasive Cardiac Laboratory, Department of Sports Medicine Centre, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. laura.stefani@unifi.it
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stefani
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Luca
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maffulli
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mercuri
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Innocenti
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Suliman
authors.forename: Loira
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Toncelli
authors.forename: Maria Concetta
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Vono
authors.forename: Brunello
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cappelli
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pedri
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pedrizzetti
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Galanti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D001022:Aortic Valve Insufficiency / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010809:Physical Fitness; D012016:Reference Values; D014261:Tricuspid Valve / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D014463:Ultrasonography; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult