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Friday, January 05, 2018

Echocardiography in the elite athletes of the NBA

The stylized athlete's heart is described as having an increased left ventricular end diastolic volume,a thickened left ventricular wall and increased  left ventricular mass.

Electrocardiograph studies have been reported in soccer players and cyclists largely from Europe.It has been recognized for years that different patterns of cardiac remodeling result from various forms of athletic activities typically depicted as the dichotomy between patterns described in  endurance athletes and in  resistance trained athletes.

Recently (1) a large amount of data has been published on US professional basketball players.These were players on the active rosters of all the NBA teams from the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons. Testing was done at several locations and sent to the cardiology department at Columbia for analysis.

That publication should be of value to cardiologists faced with issues involving cardiac evaluation of basketball players as regards HCM and Marfan's Syndrome.  Sudden cardiac death is most common among basketball players and HCM is the leading cause.

1) Engel , DT Athletic cardiac remodeling in U.S. professional basketball players.JAMA Cardiology 2016:1(1), 80-87

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