Left Ventricular Systolic Function Assessed by Speckle Tracking Echocardiography in Athletes with and without Left Ventricle Hypertrophy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate selected parameters of strain and rotation of the left ventricle (the basal rotation (BR) index, the basal circumferential strain (BCS) index, and the global longitudinal strain (GLS) of the left ventricle) in male athletes with physiological cardiac hypertrophy (LVH group), and athletes (non-LVH group) and non-athletes without hypertrophy (control group, CG). They were evaluated using transthoracic echocardiography and speckle tracking echocardiography before and after an incremental exercise test. The LVH group demonstrated lower BR at rest than the non-LVH group (p < 0.05) and the CG (p < 0.05). Physical effort had no effect on BR, nor was this effect different between groups (p > 0.05). There was a combined influence of LVH and physical effort on BR (F = 5.70; p < 0.05) and BCS (F = 4.97; p < 0.05), but no significant differences in BCS and GLS at rest between the groups. A higher BCS and lower GLS after exercise in the LVH group were demonstrated in comparison with the CG (p < 0.05). Left ventricular basal rotation as well as longitudinal and circumferential strains showed less of a difference between rest and after physical effort in subjects with significant myocardial hypertrophy. In conclusion, the obtained results may suggest that echocardiographic assessment of basal rotation and circumferential strain of the left ventricular can be important in predicting cardiac disorders caused by physical effort in individuals with physiological and pathological heart hypertrophy.

The beneficial effect of low‐intensity exercise on cardiac performance assessed by two‐dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography

“…There is limited data in the literature regarding the right ventricle (RV) deformation because of the complex geometry of RV. A previous study showed that RV GLS was similar between football players and the sedentary population; however, the strain rate was found lower in football players 17 …”

“…A previous study showed that RV GLS was similar between football players and the sedentary population; however, the strain rate was found lower in football players. 17 Most of the studies evaluated LV and RV strain parameters in professional athletes with high-intensity exercise. We designed this study to evaluate whether low-intensity exercise has beneficial effects without harm, which can be produced by high-intensity exercise.…”

Timely-Automatic Procedure for Estimating the Endocardial Limits of the Left Ventricle Assessed Echocardiographically in Clinical Practice

“…In a series of very recent papers [17][18][19][20], the clinical effects of the left ventricle dysfunction were deeply investigated, making our research algorithm suitable for most of these observed and reported clinical symptoms.…”

Post-exertional increase in first-phase ejection fraction in recreational marathon runners

“…This finding is largely consistent with previous studies performed in runners although discrepancies have been reported in literature with some studies reporting an increased, 9 unaltered or impaired 2,9 LV (and in some cases RV) systolic function as assessed through 2 D-echocardiography 5,6,8,26 and speckle-tracking echocardiography. 8,27 Reasons for these discrepancies are likely to be multifactorial and probably related to type of exercise, 28 training status, environmental conditions, type of investigation performed and time interval between exercise and data recording.…”