Athlete’s heart

Scharhag, Jürgen; Schneider, Günther; Urhausen, Axel; Rochette, Veneta; Kramann, B.; Kindermann, Wilfried

doi:10.1016/s0735-1097(02)02478-6

Cited by 374 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Since training mileage did not change with age in our cohort, the decrease of LV end-diastolic volumes with age could not be explained by detraining [18], but seems attributable to a physiological aging effect [16,19], which has been suggested to be caused by an age-dependent decrease in the number of cardiomyocytes [20]. The assumption of an decrease of LV end-diastolic volumes with age due to physiological aging is supported by the observations of Scharhag et al [7], who reported considerable higher LV end-diastolic volumes in young endurance athletes (27 ± 4 years; LVEDV = 167 ± 28 ml) compared to our data.…”

Section: Left Ventricular End-diastolic Volumes In Marathon Runnerssupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Interestingly, we observed a considerably lower median LV mass in our cohort of marathon runners aged C50 years compared to previously published MRI data of young endurance athletes [7]. Since we observed no association between left ventricular muscle mass and age in our study, this difference may be attributable to a different training status in the younger athletes.…”

Section: Left Ventricular Muscle Mass In Marathon Runnerscontrasting

confidence: 70%

“…During the past decade, cardiac MRI has become a widely used tool for the assessment of cardiac disorders in clinical routine in patients [6] and also in athletes [7]. Cardiac MRI has become the gold standard for quantification of cardiac volumes and mass [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Left ventricular volumes and mass in marathon runners and their association with cardiovascular risk factors

Naßenstein

Breuckmann

Lehmann

et al. 2008

Int J Cardiovasc Imaging

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Section: Left Ventricular End-diastolic Volumes In Marathon Runnerssupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Left Ventricular Muscle Mass In Marathon Runnerscontrasting

confidence: 70%

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Left ventricular volumes and mass in marathon runners and their association with cardiovascular risk factors

Naßenstein

Breuckmann

Lehmann

et al. 2008

Int J Cardiovasc Imaging

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“…Consequently, concentration of contractile proteins remained normal (table 1). This proportional increase in contractile elements indicates that the observed hypertrophy represents the functional adaptation to increased demand imposed by exercise and as such is akin to ‘athlete’s heart’ [29, 30] as opposed to pathological hypertrophy involving myocardial fibrosis [31, 32] (figure 2). …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Exercise on Cardiac Tissue Oxidative and Inflammatory Mediators in Chronic Kidney Disease

et al. 2008

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Background: Chronic renal failure (CRF) results in diminished physical activity and increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD risk factors are raised by sedentary life style and ameliorated by physical fitness in the general population. Accordingly, exercise improves hypertension, endothelial dysfunction, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, inflammation and oxidative stress in high-risk populations. This study was designed to explore the effect of exercise on oxidative and inflammatory mediators in the left ventricle (LV) of CRF rats. Methods and Results: One week after 5/6 nephrectomy female rats were housed in either regular cages or cages equipped with running wheels for 4 weeks. Sham-operated rats housed in regular cages served as controls. Sedentary CRF rats exhibited azotemia, hypertension, anemia, oxidative stress, activation of NF-κB and upregulations of reactive oxygen species-generating enzyme, NAD(P)H oxidase, MCP-1, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and PAI-1 in LV. The CRF rats assigned to the exercise group ran 6.8 ± 0.7 km/day and 72 ± 8 min/day. Voluntary exercise reversed NF-κB activation and lowered NAD(P)H oxidase, PAI-1, MCP-1 and COX-2 abundance, increased LV mass by raising myofibrillar proteins and ameliorated anemia without affecting renal function or arterial pressure. Conclusions: CRF resulted in upregulation of prooxidant/proinflammatory pathways in LV. These changes were ameliorated by exercise, which indicates the potential cardiovascular benefit of exercise in renal insufficiency.

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“…A number of echocardiography studies have proven that myocardial hypertrophy develops following long-term sports activities [3,32,38] and that this hypertrophy is more pronounced in male than in female athletes and that the degree of hypertrophy varies with different types of exercise training. The most significant increase in left ventricular cavity and wall thickness (more than 75%) was detected in cyclists, cross-country skiers, rowers, football players, and water polo players, while weight lifters, fencers, and wrestlers exhibited milder changes (less than 50% [29]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Possible mechanisms of sudden cardiac death in top athletes: a basic cardiac electrophysiological point of view

Varró

Baczkó

2010

Pflugers Arch - Eur J Physiol

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Sudden death among athletes is very rare (1:50,000-1:100,000 annually) but it is still 2-4 times more frequent than in the age-matched control population and attracts significant media attention. We propose a mechanism underlying sudden cardiac death in athletes that does not relate to myocardial ischemia but is based on repolarization abnormalities due to potassium channel downregulation and can also be best explained by the concurrent presence of several factors such as cardiac hypertrophy (athlete's heart), and/or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, increased sympathetic tone, genetic defects, drugs, doping agents, food, or dietary ingredients. These factors together can increase the repolarization inhomogeneity of the heart ("substrate") and an otherwise harmless extrasystole ("trigger") occurring with a very unfortunate timing may sometimes induce life-threatening arrhythmias. The effective and possible prevention of sudden cardiac death requires the development of novel cost effective cardiac electrophysiological screening methods. Athletes identified by these tests as individuals at higher proarrhythmic risk should then be subjected to more costly genetic tests in order to uncover possible underlying genetic causes for alterations in ionic channel structure and/or function.

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Athlete’s heart

Abstract: Regular and extensive endurance training results in similar changes in LV and RV mass, volume, and function in endurance athletes. This leads to the conclusion that the athlete's heart is a balanced enlarged heart.

Cited by 374 publications

References 34 publications

Left ventricular volumes and mass in marathon runners and their association with cardiovascular risk factors

Left ventricular volumes and mass in marathon runners and their association with cardiovascular risk factors

Effect of Exercise on Cardiac Tissue Oxidative and Inflammatory Mediators in Chronic Kidney Disease

Possible mechanisms of sudden cardiac death in top athletes: a basic cardiac electrophysiological point of view

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