Cor Vasa 2020, 62(4):354-356 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.039

(Cardiovascular adaptations to competitive sports - athlete's heart)

Vladimír Tukaa, Kryštof Slabýb
a Centrum sportovní kardiologie, II. interní klinika kardiologie a angiologie, 1. lékařská fakulta Univerzity Karlovy a Všeobecná fakultní nemocnice v Praze
b Klinika rehabilitace a tělovýchovného lékařství, 2. lékařská fakulta Univerzity Karlovy a Fakultní nemocnice v Motole, Praha

Intense physical activity creates hemodynamic stress to which the heart and the vascular system responds acutely and chronically adapts. Long-term adaptation leads to the image of the so-called athlete's heart. The athlete's heart is characterized by the harmonic/proportional dilation of all heart chambers and ventricle wall hypertrophy. These changes are also reflected in 12-lead ECG, which reflects both anatomical changes and vagotonia. One of the characteristics of the athlete's heart is its dynamic nature during sports season and their regression if the intensity of training is significantly reduced.

Keywords: Adaptation to exercise, Athlete's heart, Reaction to exercise

Received: April 20, 2020; Revised: April 20, 2020; Accepted: May 12, 2020; Published: September 16, 2020  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Tuka V, Slabý K. (Cardiovascular adaptations to competitive sports - athlete's heart). Cor Vasa. 2020;62(4):354-356. doi: 10.33678/cor.2020.039.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Beaudry R, Haykowsky MJ, Baggish A, La Gerche A. A Modern Definition of the Athlete's Heart - for Research and the Clinic. Cardiol Clin 2016;34:507-514. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    2. D'Silva A, Sharma S. Physiology of Exercise. In: Pelliccia A, Heidbuchel H, Corrado D, Borjesson M, Sharma S, eds. The ESC Textbook of Sports Cardiology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019:3-8. Go to original source...
    3. Pelliccia A, Spataro A, Granata M, et al. Coronary arteries in physiological hypertrophy: echocardiographic evidence of increased proximal size in elite athletes. Int J Sports Med 1990;11:120-126. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    4. Pelliccia A, Thompson PD. The genetics of left ventricular remodeling in competitive athletes. J Cardiovasc Med 2006;7:267-270. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    5. Jiravský O, Sovová E, Jiravská Godula B, et al. Společné stanovisko European Association of Preventive Cardiology a European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging k indikaci a interpretaci kardiovaskulárních zobrazovacích metod při vyšetřování atletického srdce. Souhrn dokumentu připravený Českou kardiologickou společností a Českou společností tělovýchovného lékařství. Cor Vasa 2019;61:e245-e258. Go to original source...
    6. Pelliccia A, Spataro A, Caselli G, Maron BJ. Absence of left ventricular wall thickening in athletes engaged in intense power training. Am J Cardiol 1993;72:1048-1054. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    7. Pelliccia A, Caselli S. Structural and functional adaptations in the athlete's heart. In: Pelliccia A, Heidbuchel H, Corrado D, Borjesson M, Sharma S, eds. The ESC textbook of Sports Cardiology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. Go to original source...
    8. Basavarajaiah S, Boraita A, Whyte G, et al. Ethnic differences in left ventricular remodeling in highly-trained athletes relevance to differentiating physiologic left ventricular hypertrophy from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. J Am Coll Cardiol 2008;51:2256-2262. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    9. Pluim BM, Zwinderman AH, van der Laarse A, van der Wall EE. The athlete's heart. A meta-analysis of cardiac structure and function. Circulation 2000;101:336-344. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    10. D'Andrea A, Bossone E, Radmilovic J, et al. Exercise-Induced Atrial Remodeling: The Forgotten Chamber. Cardiol Clin 2016;34:557-565. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    11. Sharma S, Merghani A, Mont L. Exercise and the heart: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Eur Heart J 2015;36:1445-1453. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    12. Boraita A, Heras ME, Morales F, et al. Reference Values of Aortic Root in Male and Female White Elite Athletes According to Sport. Circ Cardiovasc Imaging 2016;9:e005292. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    13. Goldhammer E, Mesnick N, Abinader EG, Sagiv M. Dilated Inferior Vena Cava: A Common Echocardiographic Finding in Highly Trained Elite Athletes. J Am Soc Echocardiogr 1999;12:988-993. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    14. Weiner RB, Wang F, Isaacs SK, et al. Blood pressure and left ventricular hypertrophy during American-style football participation. Circulation 2013;128:524-531. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    15. Baggish AL, Battle RW, Beckerman JG, et al. Sports Cardiology: Core Curriculum for Providing Cardiovascular Care to Competitive Athletes and Highly Active People. J Am Coll Cardiol 2017;70:1902-1918. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content


    Cor et Vasa

    You are accessing a site intended for medical professionals, not the lay public. The site may also contain information that is intended only for persons authorized to prescribe and dispense medicinal products for human use.

    I therefore confirm that I am a healthcare professional under Act 40/1995 Coll. as amended by later regulations and that I have read the definition of a healthcare professional.


    No
    Yes