The relationship between left ventricular structure and function in the elite rugby football league athlete as determined by conventional echocardiography and myocardial strain imaging



Forsythe, Lynsey, MacIver, David Hunter, Johnson, Christopher, George, Keith, Somauroo, John, Papadakis, Michael, Brown, Benjamin, Qasem, Mohammad and Oxborough, David
(2018) The relationship between left ventricular structure and function in the elite rugby football league athlete as determined by conventional echocardiography and myocardial strain imaging. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY, 261. pp. 211-217.

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Abstract

<h4>Aims</h4>The aims of this study were to establish the left ventricular (LV) phenotype in rugby football league (RFL) athletes and to mathematically model the association between LV size, strain (ɛ) and ejection fraction (EF).<h4>Methods and results</h4>139 male athletes underwent echocardiographic LV evaluation including ɛ imaging. Non-athletic males were used for comparison. All absolute and scaled structural indices were significantly larger (P < 0.05) in athletes with a predominance for normal LV geometry. EF and global ɛ were similar between groups but strain rates (SR) were significantly lower (P < 0.05) in athletes. Lower apical rotation (P < 0.001) and twist (P = 0.010) were exhibited in athletes.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Normal EF is explained by divergent effects of LV internal diastolic dimension (LVIDd) and mean wall thickness (MWT) on LV function. Reductions in SR and twist may be part of normal physiological LV adaptation in RFL athletes.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Athletes' heart, Left ventricle, Echocardiography, Strain
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 21 May 2019 10:47
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 00:43
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2018.01.140
Open Access URL: http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/8576/
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3042302