title: The role of echocardiography in the evaluation of cardiac re-modelling and differentiation between physiological and pathological hypertrophy in teenagers engaged in competitive amateur sports.
abstract: Aims "Athlete's heart" is a cardiac adaptation to long-term intensive training. The aims of this study were to show the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy in teenagers who participate in sports, to define the different types of cardiac re-modelling, and to differentiate between physiological and pathological hypertrophy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Echocardiographic measurements were obtained by M-mode, two dimensional, and Doppler techniques of participants from sports and control groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The echocardiographic examinations included 100 healthy teenagers taking part in dynamic sports such as football and basketball and 100 healthy teenagers taking part in static sports such as karate and judo. The control group (n=100) included healthy, sedentary teenagers. Sports participants had significantly higher left ventricular mass when compared with the control group, (p0.05). Respondents from both groups had E/A ratios (transmitral flow velocity ratio)>1, preserved diastolic function, and statistically they did not differ from the control group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Echocardiographic parameters show that physiological hypertrophy and cardiac re-modelling are present in teenagers who play sports. Unexpectedly, the prevalence of concentric and eccentric types of re-modelling is equally possible in the group of static sports participants.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Pediatric Cardiology,Medical Faculty,University of Pristina in Kosovska Mitrovica,Children's Hospital,Serbia.
authors.forename: Ljiljana S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Sulovic
authors.affiliation: 2Department of Pediatrics,Medical Centre,Novi Pazar,Serbia.
authors.forename: Meho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahmutovic
authors.affiliation: 3Department of Cardiology,Medical Faculty,Internal Clinic,University of Pristina in Kosovska Mitrovica,Serbia.
authors.forename: Snezana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lazic
authors.affiliation: 4Medical Faculty,Clinic of Gynecology and Obstetrics,University of Pristina in Kosovska Mitrovica,Serbia.
authors.forename: Nenad
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sulovic
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000293:Adolescent; D059267:Cardiomegaly, Exercise-Induced; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003971:Diastole; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D055771:Serbia; D013177:Sports; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left
keywords: Sport; echocardiography; left ventricular hypertrophy; teenagers