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Discrimination of the “Athlete’s Heart” from real disease by electrocardiogram and echocardiogram

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2017

Christopher C. Erickson
Christopher C. Erickson*
Affiliation:
Departments of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Children’s Specialty Physicians, Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America
*
Correspondence to: C. C. Erickson, MD, Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, 8200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68114, United States of America. Tel: 402 955 4350; Fax: 402 955 4356; E-mail: cerickson@childrensomaha.org
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Abstract

Chronic physical training has been shown to produce multiple changes in the heart, resulting in the athlete’s heart phenotype. Some of the changes can make it difficult to discern athlete’s heart from true cardiac disease, most notably hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Other diseases such as dilated cardiomyopathy and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy may be difficult to rule in or out. In this article, the physiological cardiac changes of chronic athletic training are reviewed. A methodological approach using electrocardiography and echocardiography to differentiate between athlete’s heart and cardiac disease is proposed.

Keywords

Athlete’s heartathletic traininghypertrophic cardiomyopathyelectrocardiographyechocardiography
Type
Original Articles
Information
Cardiology in the Young , Volume 27 , Supplement S1: Sudden Cardiac Arrest in the Young: A Contemporary Perspective , January 2017 , pp. S80 - S88
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2017 

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