Publications by authors named "Gian L Ragazzoni"
Article Synopsis
- Patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) face restrictions on competitive sports due to risks of sudden cardiac issues, which leads to a sedentary lifestyle that can harm their health.
- The study compared active HCM patients to sedentary ones and found that those who exercised had better cardiopulmonary fitness and similar arrhythmia rates, while sedentary individuals had worse fitness and higher obesity rates.
- A personalized moderate-intensity exercise plan was shown to improve fitness in HCM patients without any negative effects, suggesting that tailored exercise can be beneficial for this population.
Article Synopsis
- * The SPREAD study is a multinational research project aimed at understanding the impact of sports on BAV disease through two phases: a comparative cross-sectional analysis and a longitudinal follow-up.
- * The ultimate goal of the study is to provide data that can help guide decisions on sports participation and assess risk for individuals with BAV.
The attention towards sports cardiology has dramatically grown after the introduction of preparticipation screening and the need for specific education on electrocardiogram interpretation in athletes, given the differences between athletes and the general population. The present article stresses the need for specific skills, knowledge, and clinical expertise in sports cardiology, which are essential for appropriately screening competitive athletes to prevent sudden cardiac death and avoid overdiagnosis. However, disqualification from sports competitions may lead to sports inactivity, and athletes may enter a gray zone where little or no information is provided about what they can or cannot do to stay active.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The athlete's heart is a well-known phenomenon characterized by a harmonic remodelling that affects the cardiac chambers. However, whether mild-to-moderate aortic dilatation can be considered normal in athletes is debated. This study aimed to evaluate the ratio between left ventricular (LV) size and aortic dimensions, reporting the normal values of the ratio between the aortic root diameters at the level of the sinuses of Valsalva and LV diameters (AoD/LVEDD ratio) in a wide cohort of competitive athletes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe athlete's heart is a well-known phenomenon in adults practising competitive sports. Unfortunately, to date, most of the studies on training-induced cardiac remodelling have been conducted in adults and the current recommendations refer mainly to adult individuals. However, an appropriate interpretation of resting ECG and imaging in children practising sports is crucial, given the possibility of early detect life-threatening conditions and managing therapy and eligibility to sports competitions in the rapidly growing paediatric athlete population.
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