title: Discrimination of the "Athlete's Heart" from real disease by electrocardiogram and echocardiogram.
abstract: Chronic physical training has been shown to produce multiple changes in the heart, resulting in the athlete's heart phenotype. Some of the changes can make it difficult to discern athlete's heart from true cardiac disease, most notably hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Other diseases such as dilated cardiomyopathy and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy may be difficult to rule in or out. In this article, the physiological cardiac changes of chronic athletic training are reviewed. A methodological approach using electrocardiography and echocardiography to differentiate between athlete's heart and cardiac disease is proposed.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine,Division of Pediatric Cardiology,Children's Specialty Physicians,Children's Hospital & Medical Center,University of Nebraska Medical Center,Creighton University Medical Center,Omaha,Nebraska,United States of America.
authors.forename: Christopher C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Erickson
mesh_terms: D019571:Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia / Q000175:diagnosis; D056352:Athletes; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000175:diagnosis; D002312:Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D004452:Echocardiography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006801:Humans
keywords: Athlete’s heart; athletic training; echocardiography; electrocardiography; hypertrophic cardiomyopathy