title: Utility of Genetic Testing in Elite Volleyball Players with Aortic Root Dilation.
abstract: Basketball and volleyball attract individuals with a characteristic biophysical profile, mimicking features of Marfan syndrome. Consequently, identification of these abnormalities can be lifesaving.
  
  
  
  To determine how physical examination, echocardiography, and genetic screening can identify elite volleyball players with a previously undiagnosed aortopathy.
  
  
  
  We have performed cardiac screening on 90 US Volleyball National Team members and identified four individuals with dilated sinuses of Valsalva. This case series reports on three individuals who underwent a comprehensive genetics evaluation, including gene sequencing.
  
  
  
  Cardiac screening combined with genetic testing can identify previously undiagnosed tall athletes with an aortopathy, in the absence of noncardiac findings of a connective tissue disorder. Subject 1 had a revised Ghent systems (RGS) score of 2 and a normal aortopathy gene panel. Subject 2 had a RGS score of 1 and genetic testing revealed a de novo disease causing mutation in the gene encoding fibrillin-1 (FBN1). Subject 3 had an RGS score of 4.0 and had a normal aortopathy gene panel.
  
  
  
  Despite variable clinical features of Marfan syndrome, dilated sinuses of Valsalva were found in 4.9% of the athletes. A disease-causing mutation in the FBN1 gene was identified in subject 2, who had the lowest RGS but the largest aortic root measurement. Subjects 1 and 3, with the highest RGS, had a normal aortopathy gene panel. Our findings provide further evidence suggesting that a cardiac evaluation, including a screening echocardiogram, should be performed on all elite tall adult athletes independent of other physical findings. Genetic testing should be considered for athletes with dilated sinuses of Valsalva (male, >4.2 cm; female, >3.4 cm), regardless of other extracardiac findings.
authors.affiliation: 1UCSD School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA; 2Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, UCSD School of Medicine/Rady Children's Hospital of San Diego, San Diego, CA; and 3Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Institute of Genetic Medicine and Smilow Center for Marfan Syndrome Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Herrick
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: Hal
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dietz
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grossfeld
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001827:Body Height; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D000071838:Fibrillin-1 / Q000235:genetics; D005820:Genetic Testing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008382:Marfan Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D009154:Mutation; D010808:Physical Examination; D012850:Sinus of Valsalva / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D054798:Volleyball; D055815:Young Adult; D054392:Adipokines
chemical_list: D000071838:Fibrillin-1; C000605722:FBN1 protein, human; D054392:Adipokines