Increased myocardial mass and attenuation of myocardial strain in professional male soccer players and competitive male triathletes.
Jitka StarekovaTilo ThottakaraGunnar K LundGötz H WelschFabian J BrunnerKai MuellerleileGerhard AdamMarc RegierEnver TahirPublished in: The international journal of cardiovascular imaging (2020)
The purpose of this prospective study was to analyze the relationship between ventricular morphology and parameters of cardiac function in two different athletic groups and controls, using feature tracking cardiac magnetic resonance (FT-CMR). Twenty-three professional soccer players (22 ± 4 years), 19 competitive triathletes (28 ± 6 years) and 16 controls (26 ± 3 years) were included in the study. CMR was performed using a 1.5 T scanner. Cardiac chamber volumes, mass and biventricular global myocardial strain were obtained and compared. In comparison to the control subjects, athletes were characterized by a higher cardiac volume (p < 0.0001), higher cardiac mass (p < 0.001), reduced longitudinal strain of the left and right ventricle (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01 respectively) and reduced left ventricular radial strain (p < 0.05). Soccer players revealed higher amounts of left ventricular mass (87 ± 15 vs. 75 ± 13 g/m2, p < 0.05) than triathletes. Moreover, they showed a greater decrease in left and right ventricular longitudinal strain (p < 0.05 and p < 0.05) as well as in radial left ventricular strain (p < 0.05) in comparison to triathletes. An increase in left ventricular mass correlated significantly with a decrease in longitudinal (r = 0.47, p < 0.001) and radial (r = - 0.28, p < 0.05) strain. In athletes, attenuation of strain values is associated with cardiac hypertrophy and differ between soccer players and triathletes. Further studies are needed to investigate whether it is an adaptive or maladaptive change of the heart induced by intense athletic training.
Keyphrases
- left ventricular
- cardiac resynchronization therapy
- heart failure
- hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
- mitral valve
- acute myocardial infarction
- left atrial
- aortic stenosis
- magnetic resonance
- pulmonary hypertension
- magnetic resonance imaging
- machine learning
- deep learning
- atrial fibrillation
- coronary artery
- ultrasound guided
- acute coronary syndrome
- clinical evaluation
- coronary artery disease