Aortic Root Diameter in Highly-Trained Competitive Athletes: Reference Values According to Sport and Prevalence of Aortic Enlargement.

Background: Studies exploring the extent of aortic root dilation across the different types of sport are limited. We aimed to define the physiological limits of aortic remodelling in a large population of healthy elite athletes in comparison with nonathletic controls.

Methods: A total of 1995 consecutive athletes evaluated at the Institute of Sports Medicine (Rome, Italy) and 515 healthy controls underwent a comprehensive cardiovascular screening.

Yield and clinical significance of genetic screening in elite and amateur athletes.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to assess the value of genetic testing in addition to a comprehensive clinical evaluation, as part of the diagnostic work-up of elite and/or amateur Italian athletes referred for suspicion of inherited cardiac disease, following a pre-participation screening programme.

Methods: Between January 2009-December 2018, of 5892 consecutive participants, 61 athletes were investigated: 30 elite and 31 amateur athletes. Elite and amateur athletes were selected, on the basis of clinical suspicion for inherited cardiac disease, from two experienced centres for a comprehensive cardiovascular evaluation.

Physiologic and Clinical Features of the Paralympic Athlete's Heart.

Importance: Paralympic medicine is a newly adopted term to describe the varied health care issues associated with athletes in the Paralympics. Scarce scientific data, however, are currently available describing the cardiac remodeling in Paralympic athletes.

Objective: To investigate the physiological and clinical characteristics of the Paralympic athlete's heart and derive the normative values.

Clinical outcomes in adult athletes with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: a 7-year follow-up study.

Objective: Current guidelines recommend precautionary disqualification from competitive sports in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). We assessed the incidence of cardiovascular events in a cohort of patients with HCM engaged in long-term exercise programmes and competitive sport.

Methods: We reviewed data on 88 consecutive athletes diagnosed with HCM, from 1997 to 2017; 92% male, 98% Caucasian, median age 31 (IQR: 19-44) years.

Exercise stress test in apparently healthy individuals - where to place the finish line? The Ferrari corporate wellness programme experience.

Aims: The aim of our study was to assess the clinical significance of the exercise stress testing endpoints, namely 85% of maximal theoretical heart rate (MTHR), metabolic equivalent of task, and rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and their relation to electrocardiographic (ECG) changes in a healthy adult population.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 408 males and 52 females (mean age 39.4 ± 8.

Pre-participation health evaluation in adolescent athletes competing at Youth Olympic Games: proposal for a tailored protocol.

Objective: To promote sports participation in young people, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) introduced the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in 2007. In 2009, the IOC Consensus Statement was published, which highlighted the value of periodic health evaluation in elite athletes. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of a comprehensive protocol for illness and injury detection, tailored for adolescent athletes participating in Summer or Winter YOG.

Are Olympic athletes free from cardiovascular diseases? Systematic investigation in 2352 participants from Athens 2004 to Sochi 2014.

Context: Olympic athletes represent model of success in our society, by enduring strenuous conditioning programmes and achieving astonishing performances. They also raise scientific and clinical interest, with regard to medical care and prevalence of cardiovascular (CV) abnormalities.

Objective: Our aim was to assess the prevalence and type of CV abnormalities in this selected athlete's cohort.

Prominent left ventricular trabeculations in competitive athletes: A proposal for risk stratification and management.

Background: Recently, an unexpectedly large prevalence of Left Ventricular Non Compaction (LVNC) has been reported in athletes, raising the question of the appropriateness of current diagnostic criteria. We sought to describe prevalence and clinical characteristics of athletes with suspected LVNC in a large cohort of Olympic athletes.

Methods: Over 29months, 2501 consecutive athletes underwent a cardiac evaluation including physical examination, ECG, exercise test and echocardiography.

RV Remodeling in Olympic Athletes.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of sex and different sports on right ventricular (RV) remodeling and compare the derived upper limits with widely used revised Task Force (TF) reference values.

Background: Uncertainties exist regarding the extent and physiological determinants of RV remodeling in highly trained athletes. The issue is important, considering that in athletes RV size occasionally exceeds the cutoff limits proposed to diagnose arrhythmogenic RV cardiomyopathy.

Differential diagnosis between early repolarization of athlete's heart and coved-type Brugada electrocardiogram.

Early repolarization (ER) is typically observed in highly trained athletes as a physiologic consequence of increased vagal tone. The variant of anterior (V1 to V3) ER characterized by "domed" ST-segment elevation and negative T wave raises problems of differential diagnosis with the "coved-type" electrocardiographic pattern seen in Brugada syndrome (BS). This study was designed to identify electrocardiographic criteria for distinguishing athlete's ER from BS.

Benign clinical significance of J-wave pattern (early repolarization) in highly trained athletes.

Background: J wave/QRS slurring (early repolarization) on 12-lead ECG has been associated with increased risk for ventricular fibrillation in the absence of cardiovascular (CV) disease.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and clinical significance of J wave/QRS slurring in a large population of competitive athletes.

Methods: Seven hundred four athletes (436 males [62%], age 25 ± 5 years) free of CV disease who had engaged in 30 different sports were examined.

Screening athletes for cardiovascular disease in Africa: a challenging experience.

Aims: Preparticipation cardiovascular (CV) screening has been advocated as an efficient strategy to reduce sudden cardiac death in Caucasian athletes. At present, uncertainty remains if such strategy is feasible and efficient in native African athletes. To this scope, we performed a CV screening in an African setting.

The athlete's heart in adolescent Africans: an electrocardiographic and echocardiographic study.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to define electrocardiographic (ECG) and echocardiographic characteristics of adolescent African athletes.

Background: Recent observations in African athletes reported large prevalence of left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and ECG abnormalities. No data, so far, exist for adolescent Africans, which comprise a growing proportion of competitive/professional athletes.

Aortic root dilatation in athletic population.

Remodeling of the aortic root may be expected to occur in athletes as a consequence of hemodynamic overload associated with exercise training; however, there are few data reporting its presence or extent. This review reports the current knowledge regarding the prevalence, upper limits, and clinical significance of aortic remodeling induced by athletic training. Several determinants impact aortic dimension in healthy, nonathletic individuals, including height, body size, age, sex, and blood pressure.

Left ventricular systolic performance is improved in elite athletes.

Aims: We sought to investigate the systolic time interval (STI) and efficiency of left ventricular (LV) contraction comparatively in elite athletes and healthy sedentary controls by means of three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE).

Methods And Results: Four hundred and twenty-nine elite athletes, involved in skill (n = 41), power (n = 63), mixed (n = 167), and endurance (n = 158) disciplines and 98 sedentary controls, matched for age, underwent 3DE. By off-line analysis, we measured the absolute and relative (normalized by the R-R interval) timing of LV systolic emptying (STI and STI%) and the systolic flow velocity (SFV = stroke volume/STI).

Three-dimensional echocardiographic characterization of left ventricular remodeling in Olympic athletes.

The aim of the present study was to assess, using 3-dimensioanl echocardiography, the morphologic characteristics, determinants, and physiologic limits of left ventricular (LV) remodeling in 511 Olympic athletes (categorized in skill, power, mixed, and endurance sport disciplines) and 159 sedentary controls matched for age and gender. All subjects underwent 3-dimensional echocardiography for the assessment of LV volumes, ejection fraction, mass, remodeling index (LV mass/LV end-diastolic volume), and systolic dyssynchrony index (obtained by the dispersion of the time to minimum systolic volume in 16 segments). Athletes had higher LV end-diastolic volumes (157 ± 35 vs 111 ± 26 ml, p <0.

Patterns of ventricular tachyarrhythmias associated with training, deconditioning and retraining in elite athletes without cardiovascular abnormalities.

Ventricular tachyarrhythmias commonly occur in trained athletes during ambulatory Holter electrocardiography and are usually associated with a benign course. Such arrhythmias have been demonstrated to be sensitive to short periods of athletic deconditioning; however, their response to retraining is not known. Twenty-four hour Holter electrocardiographic monitoring was performed at peak training and after 3 to 6 months of deconditioning and was repeated in the present study after 2, 6, and 12 months of retraining in 37 athletes with frequent and complex ventricular tachyarrhythmias and without cardiovascular abnormalities.

Prevalence and clinical significance of aortic root dilation in highly trained competitive athletes.

Background: Few data are available that address the impact of athletic training on aortic root size. We investigated the distribution, determinants, and clinical significance of aortic root dimension in a large population of highly trained athletes.

Methods And Results: Transverse aortic dimensions were assessed in 2317 athletes (56% male), free of cardiovascular disease, aged 24.