Speckle tracking for left ventricle performance in young athletes with bicuspid aortic valve and mild aortic regurgitation.
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.
Stefani
Laura
L
Non-invasive Cardiac Laboratory, Department of Sports Medicine Centre, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. laura.stefani@unifi.it
De Luca
Alessio
A
Maffulli
Nicola
N
Mercuri
Roberto
R
Innocenti
Gabriele
G
Suliman
Irina
I
Toncelli
Loira
L
Vono
Maria Concetta
MC
Cappelli
Brunello
B
Pedri
Stefano
S
Pedrizzetti
Gianni
G
Galanti
Giorgio
G
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